SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is warning that the Raptor program is in “crisis.” In a memo sent to employees, Musk noted that there is a risk the crisis could have far-reaching implications on the company, suggesting that it could even lead to full blown bankruptcy. The CEO also expressed his disappointment with the lack of progress on the Raptor engines which are earmarked to power the Starship rocket.
Musk said explicitly in the memo that if indeed the company cannot achieve a "Starship flight rate of once every two weeks”, then there is a real risk of bankruptcy in the near term. It's not the first time though Elon Musk is confronted with the possibility of bankruptcy or announced publicly that he felt that way.
When Tesla was ramping up the production of the Model 3 back in 2017 and 2019, Musk was quoted saying that the EV maker was one month away from bankruptcy. This did not materialize though and Tesla went on to see a lot of growth thereafter. It's very likely that the SpaceX bankruptcy warning is a bit of an exaggeration.
But there is no doubt the delays in developing the Raptor engines will have a huge negative impact on the company and its future. Despite this, SpaceX remains one of the most valuable companies in the world. But according to many experts, the future growth potential for the company is pegged on its ability to begin regular space travel in the coming years.
Musk himself has said that SpaceX is looking forward to a future where commercial space travel becomes easy and cheap to a point where humans can start popularizing the planet mars. But this cannot happen without the Raptor engines. As of now, SpaceX needs at least 39 such engines to begin human and cargo transport into the moon and towards Mars.
While there is still a possibility that demand could ramp up in the future, so far it seems the space company has made very little progress in its endeavors. Besides, it has also emerged that Raptor engine tests that have been done so far have only focused on short flights.
Musk was quite blunt in the memo to SpaceX employees. He noted with concern that the “Raptor crisis is much worse” than he expected, urging all employees to bring “all hands on deck and recover from what is frankly a disaster.”
The billionaire who also serves as the Tesla CEO also noted that he will be canceling plans to take a break over the holidays so that he can fully focus on the issue. The memo also comes a few days after the departure of Will Heltsley.
Heltsley served as the Vice President of Propulsion, a key department in the development of the Raptor engines. Additionally, just last month, Musk also noted that the engines required a “complete design overhaul”, something that could suggest a lot of work still needs to be done.
