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I think that's what this is, the 4k people in NASA probably never would have quit (great benefits or whatever), maybe the strategist at the top (whether they are right or not) think its better for this talent to be concentrated at private firms? And tbf, the private sector does move fast :/
There is no strategist at the top thinking about where this talent is best positioned to do good work.
I would have titled it that the USA is facing brain drain from thousands exiting NASA.
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Even without that factor, making deep cuts to research funding right before Cold War II: Electric Boogaloo seems like a bad move.
If you were acting on behalf of the other players in the sequel, these would be great moves.
He's just so stupid that's equivalent to that.
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SpaceX’s mission is very explicitly not shareholder aligned, which is why Musk explicitly said he would never take it public or sell his majority stake. The mission is mars and the money making endeavors (starlink) are to bring in the cash to do that.
> The mission is mars It's hard to believe that by now Musk still hasn't realized what a ridiculous idea this is. That realization could explain his weird pivot into e.g. buying Twitter and far-right politics. A midlife crisis triggered by discovering that his childhood dream was just a fantasy.
Maybe one day Elon Musk will understand space as well as you do.
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NASA and SpaceX aren't competitors. NASA's mission statement is "explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery". SpaceX is a p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶d̶e̶d̶ privately held company whose mission is to increase shareholder value.
Specifically NASA is an exploration and science mission while SpaceX is a lift and transit provider for organizations like NASA. Historically NASA did their own lift and transit because no one else could and they seeded and researched the capabilities that SpaceX and other private ventures do today. This is a fine arrangement because commoditizing delta V is not exploration and science, it’s the means to it. I’d note…
For obvious reasons, the people who are most able to find a good gig elsewhere are the most likely to elect to go do so; and they tend to be the people that you'll miss more.
True, but it can also be those that dislike the job the most, and they tend to be the people that you'll miss less.
They'll do this now and then act shocked when some of these ex nasa people end up working in Europe or China lol
Eh. I'm not saying it's a great scheme, but these are almost all people taking retirement a couple years early. China is not interested in stealing 1980s NASA tech, and Europe aerospace is a non-player.