I Don’t Need These Russians 127
me with a feasibility study to find out if it’s possible to
make significant advancements in rocket technology? It
will involve a few weekends and evenings of your time,
I said I’d pay a decent amount for their help, and so they
were enthusiastic.”^128
A graveyard with failed rocket companies include Volk-
sRocket, AMROC, and Beal Areospace. The reasons why
these companies failed were: they didn’t have the technical
knowledge needed, they had insufficient capital, or they
relied on technologies that didn’t yet exist. SpaceX, how-
ever, recruited experienced engineers, had enough capital
to afford the loss of several rockets, and was founded in
the 21st century. “The design tools, such as solid modeling
and finite element analysis software are substantially more
powerful than ten years ago, so that’s a clear advantage,”
Elon said. “Obviously, most electronics have improved a lot
too, except gyroscopes and flight termination systems.”^285
After the meetings ended, they concluded it would
indeed be possible to build better rockets than those built
before. The experts were now convinced that SpaceX was
different and wouldn’t end up as yet another failed rocket
company. “I essentially led them to a conclusion that they
created,” Elon said. “It was sort of a Socratic dialogue on
a technical level. The essence of a Socratic dialogue is that
people wind up convincing themselves. People are much
more willing to change their opinion if you’re not forcing
it.”^128
Convinced experts from companies like Boeing, TRW,
Google, and Microsoft joined SpaceX. “It was a can-do