> This is a clear case of American innovation trumping lower overseas labor rates.
As much as I admire Elon Musk, this is a short-sighted, exceptionalist dogma. It may apply in some cases - for the time being - but do people really think that non-Americans are incapable of innovation?
SpaceX have had a headstart, since NASA and their gigantic budget have decided to take advantage of free enterprise. It's only a matter of time before Asian and European governments begin to do the same.
Well first off Elon Musk was born a non-American. He moved to the US at age 19. So I highly doubt he believes people in other countries aren't innovative.
But he's not saying other places can't innovate. He's saying that running SpaceX in other places is not as likely to be succesful. Some percent of that might be political posturing (they are reliant on politicans supporting NASA buying from them, and on politicans not passing regulation to ban private space travel). But I bet the bulk of it is a true sentiment on his part.
In order to found a rocket company you need the freedom to launch rockets. Now, that's not something anyone can just do on a whim in the US, even advanced hobbyists need permits, but it's possible to get the permits. In some places it would be impossible for a private enterprise to get those.
You also need a pool of exceptionally good engineers to recruit from (both straight out of good colleges, and experienced). While some countries like China have some recent success, and others like Russia have a longer history, the US still has the most rocket engineers free to pickup and start at a new company. That's not something that is likely to change soon.
You've not met many European governments, have you? In England Elon'd still be waiting planning permission from his local council to build a launch site...
In France, a Presidential candidate who advocates a 100% income tax on incomes over $300,000 is polling at 16% of the vote. Europe doesn't like Elon Musks. It's inequal :(
Not counting for the political discussion after some ethical experts told publicly it's dangerous and wont work. He would have been trapped in PR nightmare and have burned at least his intial 100M$ just on lobbing to find a launch site.
Sea Launch was an even more innovative entrepreneurial commercial launcher. However the USA first stopped it docking in US ports to receive a payload because it was a foreign missile system and then stopped payloads being loaded in a foreign port because that would be exporting sensitive technology.
I'm guessing that Lockheed Martin and Boeing have less political clout in Texas today than they did in California 10 years ago
Seeing how Elon Musk did not start out as American, I believe all his pro-USA rhetoric in this speech is designed to sway or convince some government people, just not sure to what end.
I think the point is that the US opened up the market where other countires didn't and he wanted to point out that low laber costs and alot of money is not everything you need to make a good spaceship.
As much as I admire Elon Musk, this is a short-sighted, exceptionalist dogma. It may apply in some cases - for the time being - but do people really think that non-Americans are incapable of innovation?
SpaceX have had a headstart, since NASA and their gigantic budget have decided to take advantage of free enterprise. It's only a matter of time before Asian and European governments begin to do the same.