I was thinking of writing something about the imminent start of World War III, but it has been postponed for 14 days. Maybe in that time the disorganised mess of US government structures will have sorted themselves out.
Instead, let’s look at another setback for engineer extraordinaire Elon Musk. The latest test of Starship resulted in a spectacular explosion on the test stand. Not only was the rocket destroyed, but most of the test facility as well. I guess Musk won’t be going to Mars in 2026.
SpaceX aren’t even trying their “partial success” story for when a rocket blows up. This time it’s a “serious anomaly”.
Unsurprisingly, morale among SpaceX employees is rock bottom. It’s not just the run of failures, but also the poor working conditions and dissatisfaction with Musk’s foray into extremist politics. Many engineers have left this year, even when considering the high personnel churn at Musk’s companies. A wall of NDAs is in place to stop people from talking, but that just makes things worse.
It’s amazing just how things are unravelling for Musk. In the past you could look at Tesla and SpaceX and they were undeniable achievements. No matter what you might have thought of him personally, he delivered. Now it looks like all of it was built on sand. There’s no culture, no institutional knowledge in his companies, they are just hollow shells. This slow-motion implosion is spectacular in its own way.