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| SpaceX threatens bankruptcy due to Raptor engine |
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk believes that the company needs to ramp up production of the next generation Raptor engine as quickly as possible, otherwise dire consequences may arise.
Musk sent an email to company employees. Ask the staff to work on the Raptor engine. He described the production situation as a more serious crisis than it was a few weeks ago.
In the email, Musk said that if production cannot be increased next year to support the higher steal rate of the company's new Starship missile, the company will face real bankruptcy risk.
The Raptor engine powers the Starship, a large, fully reusable vehicle developed by SpaceX to carry people and cargo to the Moon, Mars and other distant destinations.
Each interstellar spacecraft requires 33 raptor engines to install the massive and extremely heavy first stage booster. The upper stage of the spacecraft requires six Raptor engines, the so-called interplanetary ships.
SpaceX hopes to operate a large fleet of interstellar ships in the next few years. The billionaire businessman said earlier this month that it would take 1,000 vehicles to colonize Mars.
Hence, the company's goal is to produce more Raptor engines in the relatively near future. The company does not appear to be on the right track to meet this challenge.
Musk stated that the Starship is required to start the second version of the Starlink Internet Satellite. The company has developed more than 1,600 Starlink Release 1 satellites and nearly 100 replica 1.5, as well as the Falcon 9 rocket.
But this operator (which uses Merlin engines) can't accommodate satellites larger than the V2, which Musk says is a huge source of revenue for the company.
Raptor engine threatens the future of SpaceX
The source said: The first version of the satellite itself is weak from a financial point of view, while the second version is very strong. In addition, we are working to increase the plant's production to millions of units each year. This assumes that the second version of the satellite can be in orbit to handle bandwidth requirements. Otherwise, these stations are unnecessary.
In the email, Musk emphasized that time was key to resolving the Raptors problem. "If we cannot do a normal flight on the spaceship at least every two weeks next year, we risk going bankrupt," the letter reads.
Due to the spacecraft's design, it can be quickly reused. SpaceX requires certain operating vehicles to fly twice a month. But at the moment it does not have anything, because the interstellar ship is still in the experimental flight stage.