© Reuters
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Billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he is allowing the space company SpaceX to go bankrupt due to problems with the development of Raptor engines. To deal with the problem, he personally worked to solve it on the engine production line last week.
This is stated in a letter sent to employees of “Space X”, from which American television CNBC and the specialized site Space Explored have received a copy.
The Raptor engines are for Starship, a reusable launch vehicle to be used in NASA missions and Space X’s own to the moon, Mars and others. The Starship should be able to land and be used for future missions – the now-used Falcon 9s are only partially so.
Immediately after Thanksgiving, which took place on November 25 this year last week, however, Musk discovered the problem after finding a “terrible situation” at the plant and decided to personally work in the production until Friday night or even on weekends, instead of takes advantage of a long weekend for the American holiday. “We need all our hands to recover from what, to be honest, has become a disaster.”
The crisis is “very bad” and there is a “real risk of bankruptcy” if in 2022 the capacity for flights is not reached once every two weeks.
Musk has been known for years for what he considered impossible deadlines, which he himself failed to meet. However, Space X’s commitment is becoming more serious as the company enters various public and private space projects.
Several prototypes of the Starship, developed since 2012, have been lost in failed tests in South Texas in recent years. Different prototypes are being built and tested at the same time, and the next big test for SpaceX should be launching into orbit – in January or February, according to Musk, after regulatory approval and solving technical problems.
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