Things are deteriorating at SpaceX, at least according to Elon Musk, the company’s CEO and creator.
The lack of development on the business’s Raptor engines puts the company at a “real risk of bankruptcy,” according to a leaked company-wide email from Musk acquired by Space Explored and later corroborated by CNBC.
The situation is so serious, Musk wrote in the email, that SpaceX will need to launch a Starship once every two weeks in the coming year to avoid financial ruin.
“Unfortunately, the Raptor manufacturing situation is considerably worse than it appeared a few weeks ago,” Musk wrote in an email sent during the Thanksgiving holiday. “As we probed more into the concerns that arose following the departure of previous senior management, we discovered that they were significantly more serious than previously disclosed. There is no way to sugarcoat this.”
True, although it will look clean with close out panels installed.
Raptor 2 has significant improvements in every way, but a complete design overhaul is necessary for the engine that can actually make life multiplanetary. It won’t be called Raptor.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 17, 2021
The senior management he’s talking to is very definitely Will Heltsley, SpaceX’s former VP of propulsion, who left the firm in November due to the Raptor’s lack of progress.
Musk continued to express his displeasure in the email, while also emphasizing the gravity of the situation. Despite the fact that it was a holiday weekend, he went so far as to demand that his employees return to work.
“Unless you have urgent family obligations or are medically unable to return to Hawthorne,” he wrote, “we will need all hands on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster.”
Despite his plans to take the weekend off, Musk said he would “be on the Raptor line all night and over the weekend.”
The CEO ended his holiday letter to his employees on a positive note, emphasizing that the company’s financial future was on the line.
“What it boils down to is that if we don’t achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year, we face a significant risk of bankruptcy,” he warned.
The communication comes as a shock, given that SpaceX and Musk are known for portraying the company as a runaway success.
Everything seemed to be going well for the company, from obtaining lucrative contracts with NASA to hitting a $100 billion valuation to preparing for a journey to the Moon — but it appears that things are about to blow up for the corporation like so many rockets on a launchpad.
