SpaceX lays off 10 percent of employees to invest in projects

SpaceX has announced that it will lay off approximately 600 employees. The reason for the dismissal is that the company has to ‘downsize’ in order to be able to continue investing sufficiently in future projects, such as rocket development.

The layoffs represent about 10 percent of SpaceX’s total workforce. A spokesman told Reuters that the space company needs to get leaner to meet future challenges. Specific mention was made of the development of interplanetary missiles and the creation of ‘space internet’.

SpaceX previously announced that it wants to put a network of satellites into orbit called Starlink, which will provide not only internet on Earth, but also interplanetary. Thousands of satellites have to be launched for this, something that requires a large budget.

With regard to interplanetary travel, SpaceX is currently focusing primarily on the development of the Spaceship, previously called the Big Falcon Rocket. This rocket must be able to transport astronauts, among other things, and must be used for missions to Mars. Recently, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk showed a photo of a test model.

For these purposes, SpaceX thinks it needs extra money, even though it claims to make a profit. However, there are also rumors that no profit is being made at all; because SpaceX does not release quarterly figures, the data cannot be verified.