SpaceX, a private company valued at over $350 billion, is currently benefiting from billion-dollar rocket launch programs from the Pentagon. Based on recently signed contracts, the company will carry out most of the US military space launches until at least 2036. Based on recently signed contracts, the company will carry out most of the US military space launches until at least 2036. However, the constant failures of the Starship mega-rocket launches, the ninth in a row of which ended in failure this week, raise the question: is it too risky to entrust expensive strategic launches to the whims of a billionaire?
“Weren’t we NOT blowing up rockets, like, 50 years ago? Also weren’t we like ‘ah yeah that was a fail’ when the rocket fell apart instead of calling it a ‘partial success,” journalist Sarah Jeong says ironically, pointing out the difference in approaches.
Indeed, NASA and SpaceX operate in different realities. While NASA explores space for the advancement of science, SpaceX dreams of colonizing Mars, much to the delight of Elon Musk. What is more important is that the pressure on NASA is now much stronger, because in recent years the aerospace administration has been cutting budgets and closing entire departments. At the same time, SpaceX’s expensive rockets explode, causing environmental disasters.
“NASA simply didn’t allow itself to fail as often as SpaceX,” explains technologist Andrew Offorjebe.
NASA had no right to fail
At the height of the Cold War, despite Apollo’s impressive successes, polls showed only 45-60% support for space spending. Congress and the Pentagon kept a close eye on every penny. In 1965, NASA even refused to fund a joint rocket program with the Pentagon solely because of its inability to “quantify the non-economic benefits of space.” This happened against the background of the agency’s most successful year.
SpaceX, however, operates under different conditions. Despite another explosion of Starship, Musk continues to talk about relocating a million people to Mars by 2044. But the reality is harsher: the company spends about $1.5 billion a year on Starship and Starbase alone. Although it is currently profitable thanks to Starlink, SpaceX’s future hinges on Starship, which has not yet completed a single successful flight.
Without the success of this rocket, the company’s $1.6 billion debt will only continue to grow. And here’s an interesting thing: the Pentagon contracts won’t let SpaceX go bankrupt at the expense of the government budget. This is great news for Musk, but bad news for taxpayers who are financing this risky “space capitalism.”
Only time will tell how long the Pentagon will close its eyes to SpaceX’s failures with exploding rockets.
Earlier, we reported on how Elon Musk was trying to make money off the rocket panic in the US.
According to futurism.com
