The company's Raptor program is in crisis and poses a major threat to the entire space venture, according to the CEO.
CNBC's Michael Sheetz obtained an email from Musk that said he was upset with the lack of progress on the engines that power the Starship rocket.
"We face genuine risk of bankruptcy if we can't achieve a flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year," Musk said, according to CNBC's report.
Insider asked for comment from the company. In the past, Musk has faced the possibility of bankruptcy. The CEO has said that his other business venture,Tesla, was only a month away from insolvency when it was ramping up production of the Model 3.
Musk's plan to populate Mars is dependent on the success of the Raptor engine production, which is a crucial part of the future of the company. The next-generation spaceship, called Starship, is being developed by the company to launch people and cargo to Mars and the moon. The company only tested the rocket on short test flights at its facility in Texas, as it will need as many as 39 Raptor engines to power it for orbital launches.
In November, Musk said that he planned to launch Starship into space by January or February of next year, but that production of the engine was lagging.
The production crisis of the Raptors is worse than it was a few weeks ago, according to a memo from Musk. "We need all hands on deck to recover from what is a disaster," he said.
The CEO said in the email that he was going to take a break during Thanksgiving weekend, but the production issues made him work during the holiday weekend.
Starlink is a satellite internet program that is dependent on the progress of Starship. According to an email, Musk said that the newest version of Starlink will require more power and mass than the previous version.
The VP of Propulsion left the company a few weeks ago. CNBC reported at the time that he had been moved off the program because of a lack of progress. Earlier that month, Musk said that the engines needed a complete redesign.
CNBC has more from Musk's email.
Do you work for the company? The reporter can be reached from a non-work email.
