SpaceX Mars Mission and Funding Discussion

[scaesare]

Unless either of us has direct access to Elon’s brain, we can’t know for sure. He thinks very long term. I said it was my “opinion”, indicating I was not sure about his thinking.

My recollection is similar to that of @Cosmacelf ... discussion at the time included some of Elon's comments that government/NASA contracts didn't provide the level of funding needed, at least for the rapid development schedule he was targeting. Finding a customer to pay for its services would help... ultimately, they ended up deciding to the best way to do that was to be their own customer for a revenue generating service...

On a quick search I found a reference from Spacenews:

Musk also briefly discussed Starlink, SpaceX’s planned broadband satellite constellation that will provide connectivity to underserved areas and a low-cost alternative in more urbanized areas. Starlink, he added, will also provide revenue needed for SpaceX’s Mars ambitions.

 

[Grendal]

The progression for BFR was just the original idea for building a big reusable rocket that could have the possibility of colonizing Mars. Probably as a response to that presentation and many people talking about how much it would cost someone had to come up with a way to generate vast amounts of money. The next year he updated the idea and brought up the idea of point to point rocket travel. I'm sure that it quickly became apparent that would not generate anything close to the amount of money needed to build the fleet necessary for colonization. The cost of building the infrastructure for the point to point travel would be an enormous amount. Sometime soon after the presentation was when it came out that SpaceX would build a satellite network. I'm certain that was all about generating the money needed for Starship development and paying for the future cost of colonization. Two more years go by and the next presentation is where they had converted BFR to a stainless steel rocket and they had working prototypes of the Raptor engine. By that time, SpaceX had launched their first batches and could see that Starlink would work and the potential for making lots of money were there.

 

[spacerfc]

The plan for Starlink was unveiled in 2015, before the first Starship presentation in 2016 (back then Starship was called ITS).

You can't use "Starlink" to search for old Starlink news, since when it was unveiled in 2015 it has no name, it's just "SpaceX's constellation", the brand name "Starlink" was only registered in 2017

When Elon unveiled Starlink in 2015, he made it clear it's for generating revenue for Mars, quote from the SpaceNews article referenced above:

“This is intended to be a significant amount of revenue and to help fund a city on Mars,” Musk said. “Looking at the long term, what’s needed to create a city on Mars? Well, one thing’s for sure – a lot of money. So we need things that will generate a lot of money.”

 

[scaesare]

An additional reference on Starlink being a mechanism to fund the onging operation to get to Mars:

Starlink, meanwhile, was publicly announced in January 2015 during a press conference held by Elon Musk at SpaceX’s Seattle office. The decision to enter the satellite production business was motivated by the belief in the large financial potential tied to satellite internet services compared to space-launched services. Musk stated that the goal of the venture was to generate a significant revenue stream to fund a city on Mars, underpinning SpaceX’s ambition to make humanity an interplanetary species by creating a self-sustaining colony on Mars.

From: https://research.contrary.com/reports/spacex

On edit: Oh and it cites thie WSJ article I can't see: Elon Musk’s Next Mission: Internet Satellites

 

[JB47394]

On edit: Oh and it cites thie WSJ article I can't see: Elon Musk’s Next Mission: Internet Satellites

It's a 2014 article that talks about Elon's early plans for satellite constellations. It started out much more humbly, where Elon and Greg Wyler were talking about putting up a constellation of 700 100kg satellites, building a satellite factory, etc. Wyler's company, WorldVu Satellites (now OneWeb), controlled a large block of radio spectrum, which likely contributed to Elon's interest. As Elon is not the sort to share primacy, we no longer see Greg Wyler in the picture, and Elon has gone on to much grander ambitions.

 

[scaesare]

Cool.. thanks. Assume it talked about the plans for Starlink to Fund BFR?

 

[JB47394]

Cool.. thanks. Assume it talked about the plans for Starlink to Fund BFR?

No mention of anything outside a constellation of satellites. Remember that the WSJ is about businesses, and businesses make money. All this dreamy crap about creating huge rockets to build colonies on other planets is feed stock for heated debates among whack jobs living out in the Sonoran Desert. It's not anything remotely like a real business.

 

[scaesare]

No mention of anything outside a constellation of satellites. Remember that the WSJ is about businesses, and businesses make money. All this dreamy crap about creating huge rockets to build colonies on other planets is feed stock for heated debates among whack jobs living out in the Sonoran Desert. It's not anything remotely like a real business.

Hmmm, odd that report from research.contrary.com hyperlinked to that WSJ artcle on the word "stated", if it wasn't a reference to a statement in that regard:

Musk stated that the goal of the venture was to generate a significant revenue stream to fund a city on Mars, underpinning SpaceX’s ambition to make humanity an interplanetary species by creating a self-sustaining colony on Mars.

Oh well.. thanks again for the WSJ summary..

 

[JB47394]

Hmmm, odd that report from research.contrary.com hyperlinked to that WSJ artcle on the word "stated"

I just went through the article, trying to find anything that would suggest that Elon was saying something along those lines. Nothing even close. In fact, there are no quotes from Elon in the article. It's all statements about Elon and Greg being in talks. Maybe they just got the wrong link.

I beat on Microsoft Edge's chat bot for a while and the best I can do is Elon saying the following in May 2019:

"We see this as a way for SpaceX to generate revenue that can be used to develop more and more advanced rockets and spaceships. We believe we can use the revenue from Starlink to fund Starship"

It was part of a discussion with media prior to launching the first Starlink satellites. That's the article that the report should have linked.

 

[scaesare]

The article author needs to buy you a beer (or the beverage of your choice) for doing the due diligence he should have!

 

[Buckminster]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1768787761383837922