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Elon is able to develop these things because he is using his own money. In the US at least, Congress, the media, and the public would never allow NASA to use pu

Elon is able to develop these things because he is using his own money. In the US at least, Congress, the media, and the public would never allow NASA to use public money to blow up a series of rockets in pursuit of a working design. The recent test flights of Starship prototypes is a good example. No one knew for sure when Spacex would have the belly flop maneuver mastered, but as long as no one gets hurt and he spends his own money, no one cares. Next they have to master successful launch into space, successful booster recovery, successful orbital rendezvous and docking, successful lunar landing, successful long-term life support, and successful high speed atmospheric reentry. All of these are very daunting technical challenges for a totally new spacecraft. When will the money run out?

swsieber 5y ago
> When will the money run out? It won't? They've secured a pretty good revenue stream with their satellite launch business + Starlink.
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  Which was the whole point of their satellite launch business and of Starlink, as outlined by Elon Musk years before SpaceX first landed a rocket. This is what angers me about articles like this. Yes, SpaceX attracted lots of interest because of its ambitious mission statement. No, that mission statement wasn't a bunch of empty statements like it typically is for most businesses. SpaceX is consistently following the path it outlined, the path from reusability, through launch business, pouring all the money into R&D for the ultimate goal of opening up access to Mars. I would've thought that after so many years, the skeptics would figure out the company is serious about it.
Terretta 5y ago
> Elon is able to develop these things because he is using his own money Though an alternate narrative is he arguably used public money through government credits: These opportunities to leverage government programs, some designed for people much further down the income ladder, have driven Musk throughout his career: The megabillionaire built his companies on the backs of enormous government subsidies, tax breaks, and exclusive contracts. A 2015 Los Angeles Times investigation estimated that Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX had together benefited from “$4.9 billion in government support.” https://newrepublic.com/article/160500/elon-musks-big-government-grift https://newrepublic.com/article/160500/elon-musks-big-govern... // Note: Consider sources
- adriancr 5y ago
  This argument is flawed. By this logic we should see other companies using the same funds to achieve the same results. Yet all we see is boeing and others gobbling up the same funds with no/bad results. No point in discussing EVs since there companies were actively against it.
- nickik 5y ago
  These sorts of articles are just terrible journalism. There are two different programs to help make transport more green. Tax credits for EV, Tesla took advantage of them and so did other companies. These credits clearly had the effect desired by the government of promoting EVs. The benefit went primary to consumers. Then there are air quality credits that again apply to the whole market and every company has the opportunity to make money on a level playing field. I would think improving air quality is a good thing and they exact type of regulation the left is always in favor of. SpaceX was private bootstrap and then received a government contract that required them to develop significant advanced spacecraft and launch it 20 times. SpaceX proposal was by far the cheapest and technologically the most advanced. Its not a subsidy its simply a government contract and not an exclusive one. Every single investigation done at NASA or GAO showed that this contract saved the government money.

swsieber 5y ago

> When will the money run out? It won't? They've secured a pretty good revenue stream with their satellite launch business + Starlink.

TeMPOraL 5y ago
Which was the whole point of their satellite launch business and of Starlink, as outlined by Elon Musk years before SpaceX first landed a rocket. This is what angers me about articles like this. Yes, SpaceX attracted lots of interest because of its ambitious mission statement. No, that mission statement wasn't a bunch of empty statements like it typically is for most businesses. SpaceX is consistently following the path it outlined, the path from reusability, through launch business, pouring all the money into R&D for the ultimate goal of opening up access to Mars. I would've thought that after so many years, the skeptics would figure out the company is serious about it.

Terretta 5y ago

> Elon is able to develop these things because he is using his own money Though an alternate narrative is he arguably used public money through government credits: These opportunities to leverage government programs, some designed for people much further down the income ladder, have driven Musk throughout his career: The megabillionaire built his companies on the backs of enormous government subsidies, tax breaks, and exclusive contracts. A 2015 Los Angeles Times investigation estimated that Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX had together benefited from “$4.9 billion in government support.” https://newrepublic.com/article/160500/elon-musks-big-government-grift https://newrepublic.com/article/160500/elon-musks-big-govern... // Note: Consider sources

adriancr 5y ago
This argument is flawed. By this logic we should see other companies using the same funds to achieve the same results. Yet all we see is boeing and others gobbling up the same funds with no/bad results. No point in discussing EVs since there companies were actively against it.
nickik 5y ago
These sorts of articles are just terrible journalism. There are two different programs to help make transport more green. Tax credits for EV, Tesla took advantage of them and so did other companies. These credits clearly had the effect desired by the government of promoting EVs. The benefit went primary to consumers. Then there are air quality credits that again apply to the whole market and every company has the opportunity to make money on a level playing field. I would think improving air quality is a good thing and they exact type of regulation the left is always in favor of. SpaceX was private bootstrap and then received a government contract that required them to develop significant advanced spacecraft and launch it 20 times. SpaceX proposal was by far the cheapest and technologically the most advanced. Its not a subsidy its simply a government contract and not an exclusive one. Every single investigation done at NASA or GAO showed that this contract saved the government money.