What the Trump-Musk Feud Means for SpaceX and NASA

What is happening in Washington does not resolutely remain in Washington, with practically all the measures taken by the richest and most powerful country in the world with an almost immense global reaction – on prices, Ukraine and Gaza wars, global health, and more. Sometimes these reactions are not even confined to the planet – as illustrated by the recent social media between President Donald Trump and former advisor Elon Musk.

On June 5, while the quarrel between the two best needs, Trump published Trump on his social platform Truth, “the simplest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate the subsidies and government contracts from Elon. I have always been surprised that Biden does not do! ”

A little more than 90 minutes later, in a post on X, Musk applauded back: “In the light of the president’s declaration on the cancellation of my government contracts, @spacex will immediately begin to demolish his dragon spacecraft.”

Shortly after this position went widely, Musk quietly removed it. Later in the evening, an X user posted on Trump and Musk: “It’s a shame in both directions. You are both best than that. Cofroye and go back for a few days. ” A few minutes later, Musk replied: “Good advice. OK, we are not helpless Dragon.”

Find out more: Musk-Trump implosion can be seen from space

This has defused the immediate emergency, but the threat and the counter-mention raised questions about how America’s space efforts are detained on the whims of two sometimes mercury billionaires. Could a simple word of musk found the nation? Could a Trump Sharpie also hinder SpaceX? The short answer in both cases may be, but unlikely.

There is no overestimation how Central has become central in the space sector during the 23 years which have been founded as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Since the inaugural flight of Falcon 9 of the company in 2010, the rocket has become the world vehicle of battle horse for orbit journeys, with 485 finished missions, including 440 acrobatic landings of its first reusable stage. The rocket and its dragon spacecrafts provide regular service to the International Space Station (ISS), transporting teams from top to bottom, and transporting cargoes and supplies on board unrealized dragons. In 2024, the largest Falcon Heavy in the company launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft from NASA to the Europa Moon in Jupiter. He should launch the ambitious Romanesque telescope of Nancy Grace in May 2027.

The working relationship between SpaceX and the government is by no means limited to NASA. In April, as Ars Technica Reports, the US Space Force awarded the company a contract of $ 5.9 billion, making SpaceX the main launch service provider for Pentagon satellites. The army is also a major client of the Starlink Satellite constellation in SpaceX, with 50 military orders now using internet service in orbit, according to Defense news.

“We have $ 22 billion in government contracts,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president and head of the SpaceX exploitation, in a public panel broadcast live last year. “We have won this. We offer him, we were the lowest price, the best tenderer, we won and we execute. ”

If anything, the company will have the opportunity to execute even more, strengthening the links between SpaceX and the government. In 2021, NASA selected the SpaceX Starship rocket from SpaceX to serve as an landing that should transport American astronauts from the lunar orbit on the surface of the moon a little before the end of the decade. In 2024, the space agency hit SpaceX to build the vehicle that pushes the ISS out of orbit when the program will end in 2030. And in May, Trump’s so-called lean budget asked NASA to cancel its SATURN V Moon space launch system from the 1960s, leaving a stand as a successor as a successor.

In the meantime, while Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was supposed to join Dragon to provide walks at ISS – making part of the activity of the launch activity of SpaceX – Starliner failed in its inaugural flight last year. This left Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams blocked aboard the station for 8 months, in a mission that was to last only eight days. Likewise, Blue Origin, The Rocket Company founded by Musk’s comrade, Jeff Bezos, was to provide a launch service competition for SpaceX, but the company has managed only one, only a partially successful orbital launch of its new Glenn rocket, on January 20, and has limited most of its activities to control Glenn suborginal missions for refined space tourists.

“It is not a planned monopoly,” said Shotwell in the live flow. “If our competitors could come together …”

All this leaves SpaceX and the mutually interdependent government, with Washington with the company to provide services that no one else can currently and the company happy for paying work. This does not mean that none of the two could take the spouse’s nest. Trump’s appointment by the private astronaut and Musc friend, Jared Isaamman, as a NASA administrator, was largely considered a sign of Musk’s influence on the president – and Trump’s decision on May 31 to draw the appointment was considered the first sign of the rift between Musk and Trump. But the president did not take any other step against Musk-World, and Musk’s decision to remove his provocative post on X may have cooled the templers on both sides. SpaceX and other customers’ investors can be used to brake on the worst Musk trends, and legislators in heavy space states, including California, Texas and Florida, can also retain Trump.