5 ms·

Unhappy Elon Musk went on firing spree over slow satellite broadband progress

26 points by okket 8y ago

ryanmercer 8y ago
*businessman trying to get a profitable product launched handles business.
- meowface 8y ago
  Pretty much. This would never be an article if it were "[X] Fortune 500 company fires 7 managers over sluggish progress". Happens all the time.
  - nouseforaname 8y ago
    I agree that this wouldn't be news if he weren't so visibly publicly unhinged. But his erratic behavior sells papers.
  - jiveturkey 8y ago
    7 managers at a random F500 is noise. 7 managers at starlink is probably 10-12% of the management.
- loa-in-backup 8y ago
  *employees gossip about internet memes about boss instead of paying attention to their duty
ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
I'm glad employees can be fired at will, in this country, and I'm glad he takes that part of SpaceX so seriously. On the other hand, hiring managers from Microsoft and Google does not seem to be a good match for the type and pace of innovation Musk wants. Based on my work experience with ex-managers from those companies (not meant to exclude management from other elephantine companies).
- megaman8 8y ago
  Sure, it's a good thing that the option exists that employees can be fired at will. but, that doesn't mean that firing is a good thing. If someone is fired or laid off, it means the company has failed in some way. Either they hired the wrong person, or had unrealistic expectations or in some way mismanaged their resources (hiring too many people for a project, etc). Not something that should be proudly celebrated.
  - ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
    People make mistakes in all avenues of life, including hiring. It's important to be able to make amends, or change paths, without being blocked by (inimical) others or by (excessive) regulation. In some parts of the world, firing is near impossible.
    - jules-jules 8y ago
      Not OP, but I'd agree fully as long as we're talking about management (well-compensated staff). Musk has been operating under the motto the end justifies the means and he’s getting a ton of flack for this from the left. Personally, I am slightly more ambivalent, after all both Tesla and SpaceX are not renown for their good work-life balance, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone who wants to work there. (Just to be clear, I do sympathise with the low-paid staff in the Tesla factories, and think they should be given better working conditions; some of the stories coming out of there are appalling).
- shanghaiaway 8y ago
  They were fired because Musk himself is an incompetent manager. He hired and managed these managers so the failure of not being able to get the Org running is on him.
megaman8 8y ago
> SpaceX has said it will offer speeds of up to a gigabit per second, with latencies between 25ms and 35ms. Those latencies would make SpaceX's service comparable to cable and fiber. > The FCC proposal would require SpaceX to launch 50 percent of these satellites within six years and the rest within an additional three years. Well, the long term future looks promising.
- ryanmercer 8y ago
  >Well, the long term future looks promising. Unless of course Kessler effect.
  - ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
    Do you believe nobody at SpaceX, or their direct competitors, has thought about it?
    - ryanmercer 8y ago
      >Do you believe nobody at SpaceX, or their direct competitors, has thought about it? It doesn't matter if they've thought about it. You can think all you want about something but ole Private Murphy operates in the real world not on paper when he sets about mucking stuff up. They're talking about launching 11,925 satellites. That's nearly 10 times the current number of orbiting satellites.
      - ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
        This is not a rational fear. There are at any time an average of 10,000 planes in the sky, carrying 1m+ passengers. These 12,000 satellites will each have more space available and very regular trajectories, without ever converging on major nodes. One should note that your opening statement is that "It doesn't matter if they've thought about it." This is not how innovation, manufacturing, maintenance, and risk management work.
        8y ago
rurban 8y ago
Does anybody understands the technical limitations with that low orbit? I assume it has to be powered somehow to stay in that extremely low orbit, and therefore has limited lifetime. You cannot just shoot rockets up there to fill them up. But since the technology will also have short lifetime (5 year I assume) Musk might be right to make it cheap and fast.
- mrep 8y ago
  They plan on using ion thrusters: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/8iy7pv/why_is_spacex_planning_to_use_ion_thrusters/ https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/8iy7pv/why_is_space...
  - rurban 8y ago
    Ouch. At first I mixed it up with the EMDrive, which would not work. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325177082_The_SpaceDrive_Project_-_First_Results_on_EMDrive_and_Mach-Effect_Thrusters https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325177082_The_Space... But a simple ion thruster is fine. Those beasts are incredibly fast up there in low orbit. Something like one earth orbit in 2 hours.
lacker 8y ago
This doesn't sound like the problems are hiring ex-Microsoft and ex-Google people per se. It sounds more like a typical problem with managing a remote office, where the remote office isn't operating the way the home office wants. The telling part to me is: Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in California to replace a number of the managers he fired. This seems like a good sign to me. It's hard to convince people with experience at your company to move cities to start up a new remote office, but it's an important part of getting the culture right.
jiveturkey 8y ago
not surprised on the progress. i know someone there, in security. spaceX/starlink think very highly of themselves, in that annoying way. my contact is indeed quite a skilled engineer, so you know, if everyone else is like him then their self-opinion may be valid. doesn't make the arrogance any more pleasant though. i understand it's stupid hard to get a job there. the kind of interview that is often discussed with disdain, rightly so, here on HN.

26 points by okket 8y ago

ryanmercer 8y ago

*businessman trying to get a profitable product launched handles business.

meowface 8y ago
Pretty much. This would never be an article if it were "[X] Fortune 500 company fires 7 managers over sluggish progress". Happens all the time.
- nouseforaname 8y ago
  I agree that this wouldn't be news if he weren't so visibly publicly unhinged. But his erratic behavior sells papers.
- jiveturkey 8y ago
  7 managers at a random F500 is noise. 7 managers at starlink is probably 10-12% of the management.
loa-in-backup 8y ago
*employees gossip about internet memes about boss instead of paying attention to their duty

ilove_banh_mi 8y ago

I'm glad employees can be fired at will, in this country, and I'm glad he takes that part of SpaceX so seriously. On the other hand, hiring managers from Microsoft and Google does not seem to be a good match for the type and pace of innovation Musk wants. Based on my work experience with ex-managers from those companies (not meant to exclude management from other elephantine companies).

megaman8 8y ago
Sure, it's a good thing that the option exists that employees can be fired at will. but, that doesn't mean that firing is a good thing. If someone is fired or laid off, it means the company has failed in some way. Either they hired the wrong person, or had unrealistic expectations or in some way mismanaged their resources (hiring too many people for a project, etc). Not something that should be proudly celebrated.
- ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
  People make mistakes in all avenues of life, including hiring. It's important to be able to make amends, or change paths, without being blocked by (inimical) others or by (excessive) regulation. In some parts of the world, firing is near impossible.
  - jules-jules 8y ago
    Not OP, but I'd agree fully as long as we're talking about management (well-compensated staff). Musk has been operating under the motto the end justifies the means and he’s getting a ton of flack for this from the left. Personally, I am slightly more ambivalent, after all both Tesla and SpaceX are not renown for their good work-life balance, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone who wants to work there. (Just to be clear, I do sympathise with the low-paid staff in the Tesla factories, and think they should be given better working conditions; some of the stories coming out of there are appalling).
shanghaiaway 8y ago
They were fired because Musk himself is an incompetent manager. He hired and managed these managers so the failure of not being able to get the Org running is on him.

megaman8 8y ago

> SpaceX has said it will offer speeds of up to a gigabit per second, with latencies between 25ms and 35ms. Those latencies would make SpaceX's service comparable to cable and fiber. > The FCC proposal would require SpaceX to launch 50 percent of these satellites within six years and the rest within an additional three years. Well, the long term future looks promising.

ryanmercer 8y ago
>Well, the long term future looks promising. Unless of course Kessler effect.
- ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
  Do you believe nobody at SpaceX, or their direct competitors, has thought about it?
  - ryanmercer 8y ago
    >Do you believe nobody at SpaceX, or their direct competitors, has thought about it? It doesn't matter if they've thought about it. You can think all you want about something but ole Private Murphy operates in the real world not on paper when he sets about mucking stuff up. They're talking about launching 11,925 satellites. That's nearly 10 times the current number of orbiting satellites.
    - ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
      This is not a rational fear. There are at any time an average of 10,000 planes in the sky, carrying 1m+ passengers. These 12,000 satellites will each have more space available and very regular trajectories, without ever converging on major nodes. One should note that your opening statement is that "It doesn't matter if they've thought about it." This is not how innovation, manufacturing, maintenance, and risk management work.
      - 8y ago

rurban 8y ago

Does anybody understands the technical limitations with that low orbit? I assume it has to be powered somehow to stay in that extremely low orbit, and therefore has limited lifetime. You cannot just shoot rockets up there to fill them up. But since the technology will also have short lifetime (5 year I assume) Musk might be right to make it cheap and fast.

mrep 8y ago
They plan on using ion thrusters: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/8iy7pv/why_is_spacex_planning_to_use_ion_thrusters/ https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/8iy7pv/why_is_space...
- rurban 8y ago
  Ouch. At first I mixed it up with the EMDrive, which would not work. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325177082_The_SpaceDrive_Project_-_First_Results_on_EMDrive_and_Mach-Effect_Thrusters https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325177082_The_Space... But a simple ion thruster is fine. Those beasts are incredibly fast up there in low orbit. Something like one earth orbit in 2 hours.

lacker 8y ago

This doesn't sound like the problems are hiring ex-Microsoft and ex-Google people per se. It sounds more like a typical problem with managing a remote office, where the remote office isn't operating the way the home office wants. The telling part to me is: Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in California to replace a number of the managers he fired. This seems like a good sign to me. It's hard to convince people with experience at your company to move cities to start up a new remote office, but it's an important part of getting the culture right.

jiveturkey 8y ago

not surprised on the progress. i know someone there, in security. spaceX/starlink think very highly of themselves, in that annoying way. my contact is indeed quite a skilled engineer, so you know, if everyone else is like him then their self-opinion may be valid. doesn't make the arrogance any more pleasant though. i understand it's stupid hard to get a job there. the kind of interview that is often discussed with disdain, rightly so, here on HN.