I expect SpaceX will just get a massive bailout to keep going. This does highlight that free markets simply don’t work for large scale innovation. Such things require huge amounts of capital and may not pan out in the end. The only way to fund this kind of innovation sustainably is by using state resources.

Some of my least favorite coworkers are going to be very upset tomorrow morning

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I highly doubt that. SpaceX could probably raise insane amounts of money if they wanted to and Elon himself could throw his own money into it. This sounds like some cheap FUD to whip the SpaceX employees into overdrive ahead of the planned Starship launches.

Article published November 30th, 2021. Clearly Musk was exaggerating.