WASHINGTON — Throughout the Trump administration’s Protection Division, Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocketry is being trumpeted because the nifty new approach the Pentagon may transfer army cargo quickly world wide.
Within the Commerce Division, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc web service will now be absolutely eligible for the federal authorities’s $42 billion rural broadband push, after being largely shut out throughout the Biden period.
At NASA, after repeated nudges by Musk, the company is being squeezed to show its focus to Mars, permitting SpaceX to pursue federal contracts to ship the primary people to the distant planet.
And on the Federal Aviation Administration and the White Home itself, Starlink satellite tv for pc dishes have not too long ago been put in, to increase federal authorities web entry.
Musk, because the architect of a bunch he known as the Division of Authorities Effectivity, has taken a sequence noticed to the equipment of governing, spurring chaos and dread by pushing out some 100,000 federal staff and shutting down numerous companies, although the federal government has not been constant in explaining the expanse of his energy.
However in chosen spots throughout the federal government, SpaceX is positioning itself to see billions of {dollars} in new federal contracts or different help, a dozen present and former federal officers stated in interviews with The New York Instances.
The enhance in federal spending for SpaceX will come partly because of actions by President Donald Trump and Musk’s allies and workers who now maintain authorities positions. The corporate can even profit from insurance policies beneath the present Trump administration that prioritize hiring industrial area distributors for every thing from communications programs to satellite tv for pc fabrication, areas wherein SpaceX now dominates.
Already, some SpaceX workers, briefly working on the FAA, got official permission to take actions that may steer new work to Musk’s firm.
The brand new contracts throughout authorities will come along with the billions of {dollars} in new enterprise that SpaceX may rake in by securing permission from the Trump administration to increase its use of federally owned property.
SpaceX has at the least 4 pending requests with the FAA and the Pentagon to construct new rocket launchpads or to launch extra often from federal spaceports in Florida and California. The FAA moved this month towards approving a type of offers, greater than doubling the annual variety of SpaceX launches for its Falcon 9 rocket allowed at Cape Canaveral House Power Station in Florida, to 120.
And SpaceX is pushing the Federal Communications Fee for extra federal radio spectrum — its Starlink satellite tv for pc service depends upon radio spectrum to ship alerts forwards and backwards to Earth, that means if it will get extra it might probably enhance its income — a transfer its mobile supplier rivals see as an influence seize. The primary of these awards was authorised this month, after Trump changed the pinnacle of the FCC with a brand new chair, Brendan Carr, who has been supportive of Musk.
The potential new income stream for Musk’s firm comes after he donated almost $300 million to help the 2024 marketing campaign of Trump as he sought a return to the White Home.
Musk then persuaded Trump to place him answerable for the cost-cutting effort. From there, as a White Home worker and adviser, he can affect coverage and eradicate contracts.
“The odds of Elon getting whatever Elon wants are much higher today,” stated Blair Levin, a former FCC official turned market analyst. “He is in the White House and Mar-a-Lago. No one ever anticipated that an industry competitor would have access to those kinds of levers of power.”
Executives at SpaceX didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Karoline Leavitt, the White Home press secretary, stated in an announcement that Musk, as a so-called particular authorities worker had acquired briefings on ethics limits together with these associated to conflicts of curiosity and would abide by all relevant federal legal guidelines.
SpaceX had constructed itself into one of many nation’s largest federal contractors earlier than the beginning of the second Trump administration, securing $3.8 billion in commitments for fiscal 12 months 2024 unfold over 344 completely different contracts, in accordance with a tally by The New York Instances of a federal contracting database.
Even when Trump had by no means given Musk and his workers a authorities function — or if former President Joe Biden had been elected to a second time period — SpaceX would have continued to safe new authorities work. What has modified is the general worth of the work anticipated to be delivered to SpaceX.
Douglas Loverro, a former senior NASA and Pentagon official who additionally served as an adviser to the Trump transition crew on area points, stated SpaceX deserved to win many of those further contracts.
“He does have the best tech,” Loverro stated of Musk. “All of this will lift the space industry as a whole, obviously — but it will certainly help SpaceX even more.”
Different authorities contracting specialists say they continue to be involved Musk is positioned to safe particular favors, significantly after Trump fired officers charged with investigating ethics violations and potential conflicts of curiosity.
“We will never know if SpaceX would authentically win competitions for these awards because all of the offices in government intended to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest have been beheaded or defunded,” stated Danielle Brian, the manager director of Undertaking on Authorities Oversight, a nonprofit group that tracks federal contracts.
“The abuse of power and corruption that is spreading across federal agencies because of Musk’s dual roles is horrifying,” she stated.
Pentagon Rising
Even earlier than Trump’s return, SpaceX had been working behind the scenes for a number of years to increase its enterprise with the Pentagon and intelligence companies.
It could rent former army officers who then reached again into the Protection Division to nudge former associates and buddies to purchase extra SpaceX companies.
Gary Henry, a former Air Power area and missile program supervisor, was amongst them. He joined SpaceX because it was creating Starship, the most important and strongest spacecraft ever constructed.
Throughout Henry’s tenure at SpaceX, the corporate secured a $102 million Air Power contract to review how Starship may ship army cargo to factors world wide inside 90 minutes. Presently, that process is usually executed with the Air Power’s pack mules, C-130 cargo planes, which take a lot of a day for the journey.
SpaceX remains to be having hassle getting Starship operational. The 2 most up-to-date check flights resulted in explosions that despatched particles raining over the Caribbean.
Nonetheless, Henry — now again working for the Pentagon as a advisor — is selling Starship as an possibility for the army.
Final month, whereas talking on behalf of the Pentagon at a satellite tv for pc business convention in California, he described how Starship may be used throughout the Trump administration to ship a significant piece of army tools “to any point on the planet very quickly.”
A couple of weeks later, the Air Power disclosed plans to construct a rocket touchdown pad on Johnston Atoll, a tiny island within the Pacific Ocean, to check these cargo ship landings. The Pentagon’s preliminary objective: to maneuver 100 tons of cargo per flight, a complete that solely Starship, at the least in accordance with its design, has the ability and dimension to deal with.
“It’s frustrating,” stated Erik Daehler, a vice chairman at Sierra House, which additionally needs to promote cargo companies to the Pentagon. “Things can’t just go to SpaceX.”
Maj. Gen. Steve Butow, the director of the area portfolio on the Pentagon’s Protection Innovation Unit, when requested by the Instances about Henry’s public feedback on behalf of the company for a mission he had labored on as a SpaceX worker, stated: “The optics were unfortunate.”
Henry, in an interview, stated the nation would profit from instruments that SpaceX and different industrial area firms reminiscent of Rocket Lab supply.
“Commercial space in general is very relevant to the problems we need to go solve,” he stated. “It just turns out that SpaceX is kind of leading — it is the pointy end of the spear.”
A fair larger enhance for SpaceX is probably going, present and former Pentagon officers stated, by a missile protection mission known as the Golden Dome.
For that mission, Trump has ordered the Pentagon to quickly determine the way to shoot down nuclear missiles headed for the US, in addition to strikes from lower-flying cruise and hypersonic missiles — an effort that would price $100 billion yearly, in accordance with one estimate.
SpaceX already is positioned to deal with a big share of the Pentagon’s army launch jobs within the subsequent a number of years, together with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance, a consortium run by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
An area-based missile protection system would drive launch spending even greater, as the federal government would want to buy extra gadgets to trace missile threats and transmit the info to focus on them, companies that SpaceX additionally gives.
Ann Stefanek, an Air Power spokesperson, stated in an announcement that the House Power would adhere to all legal guidelines and laws to make sure moral and efficient partnerships, which typically require aggressive bidding for brand spanking new contracts.
However business observers stated SpaceX would virtually definitely safe a big share of this profitable new work.
Laura Grego, a senior researcher on the nonprofit Union of Involved Scientists, stated: “Golden Dome is quite an apt name, as it is certainly going to cost a lot of coin.”
Mars Certain at NASA
Trump’s nominee to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, is a billionaire entrepreneur and an area fanatic. He paid SpaceX tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to fly — twice — into orbit aboard a rocket.
Extra importantly, his cost processing firm, Shift4 Funds, bought a stake in SpaceX a number of years in the past, an funding that generated $25 million in features lately, successfully making him and Musk enterprise companions. That SpaceX stake was not too long ago bought, a Shift4 government stated. In ethics paperwork launched this month, Isaacman vowed to sever any remaining monetary ties he had with SpaceX.
If confirmed, Isaacman will be a part of Michael Altenhofen, who in February was named a NASA senior adviser after 15 years at SpaceX.
NASA has already paid SpaceX extra money than even the Pentagon — a complete $13 billion in contractual commitments over the previous decade. These offers embody hiring SpaceX to ship cargo and astronauts to orbit and to ship NASA’s greatest and costliest probes into the universe.
Simply final month, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract price an estimated $100 million to launch a brand new area telescope that can seek for asteroids that may threaten Earth.
However that could be a comparatively tiny chunk of how a lot new cash SpaceX may safe from the company in Trump’s second time period.
Former NASA officers predict that Isaacman will shortly push to revamp the area company’s Artemis mission, which intends to return U.S. astronauts to the moon. That transfer may generate resistance — as this system has many allies in Congress.
Presently, Boeing has one of many essential contracts to construct the rockets for Artemis. However Loverro and different former company officers stated they anticipate the federal government to part out this rocket, as it’s years not on time and billions of {dollars} over price range.
This can permit NASA to show to industrial area firms reminiscent of SpaceX or Blue Origin to carry astronauts into orbit for future missions to the moon and even Mars.
Musk boasted this month that SpaceX would launch an uncrewed Starship to Mars by the tip of 2026 after which ship the primary people there by maybe 2029 — an effort that he’ll probably push NASA to assist finance. (Musk’s timeline predictions have been flawed prior to now.)
Executives at Boeing and Blue Origin every declined requests for remark.
SpaceX “will almost certainly see massive new business,” stated Pamela Melroy, a retired astronaut and Air Power officer who served as NASA’s deputy administrator throughout the Biden administration. “All of the indicators for SpaceX are trending positive.”
Bringing Broadband to Rural America
Till not too long ago, Starlink had largely been on the surface wanting in — unable for essentially the most half to faucet into federal incentives to supply web entry to distant areas.
Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, vowed in his affirmation listening to in January to vary that.
He promised to finish the best way the Commerce Division manages $42 billion in funding it’s distributing to states to increase broadband entry. The Biden administration selected to prioritize programs that wired properties on to web networks, relatively than satellite-based programs reminiscent of Starlink.
“Let’s use satellites, let’s use wireless and let’s use fiber,” Lutnick stated on the listening to. “And let’s do it the cheapest, most efficiently we can.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has usually taken up battles with Washington on behalf of Musk, had already been pressuring the Commerce Division to ease grant guidelines to permit satellite-based broadband in rural areas, the place the price of operating cable will be costly.
Now, Cruz’s former Senate aide, Arielle Roth, who was serving to with this push, has been nominated by Trump to guide the Commerce Division company that can oversee the grant program.
The FCC has its personal, smaller grant program that additionally gives funding to ship broadband to underserved components of the US. Starlink had initially been slated to get almost $1 billion in funding earlier than the FCC withdrew the supply in late 2023, saying that the service didn’t meet company necessities.
The fee’s board chair has now been taken over by Carr, who had protested the choice to disclaim SpaceX these funds. Business analysts and two former FCC members interviewed by the Instances stated they now anticipate the company to as soon as once more supply a few of these grant funds to Starlink.
The fee additionally authorised a SpaceX request this month, regardless of protests from Verizon and AT&T, to spice up energy on its Starlink satellites to allow them to present smartphone service immediately from orbit, ending cellphone lifeless zones for some clients.
A victory on every of those fights by SpaceX “could be huge — in the tens of billions of dollars,” stated Drew Garner, a researcher on the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.
However on the similar time, there could possibly be long-term prices to shoppers nationwide.
Month-to-month satellite tv for pc subscription prices for shoppers are greater than wired web, typically. Satellite tv for pc-based programs additionally are usually slower in contrast with cables wired to the home.
Modernizing Aviation
After a deadly midair collision between an Military helicopter and a industrial jet in January, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy requested for Musk’s assist.
The FAA, which is making an attempt to modernize its air site visitors management and climate knowledge programs, wanted a lift in technical know-how, Duffy stated.
Groups from SpaceX had been introduced into the company to help with this work.
Musk quickly complained on social media that Verizon was transferring too slowly on a multibillion-dollar company contract awarded in 2023 to ship the brand new know-how.
“The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk,” Musk wrote on the social platform X final month.
Theodore Malaska, one of many SpaceX workers working on the FAA, was granted a particular ethics waiver by the Trump administration to take part in “particular matters which may have a direct and predictable effect” on the monetary curiosity of SpaceX, in accordance with paperwork obtained by the Instances.
Quickly after, Malaska was boasting on X how the FAA was now constructing SpaceX’s Starlink satellites into company programs that ship climate knowledge to pilots. It’s a design that would convey future federal enterprise to SpaceX.
An FAA spokesperson stated that as of mid-March, solely eight of the Starlink terminals had been in use and Musk stated they’d been donated. However different Starlink terminals have not too long ago been put in on the White Home and on the workplaces of the Common Companies Administration.
“I am working without biases for the safety of people that fly,” Malaska stated in a social media posting.
The overlap in these roles — Musk’s workers advising companies whereas SpaceX is putting in its Starlink gadgets at company places — current an moral scenario that has few precedents in trendy U.S. historical past.
Federal guidelines typically prohibit awarding contracts to federal workers, together with particular authorities workers. Federal workers are also prohibited from taking actions that may profit their very own households or exterior entities they’ve a monetary relationship with.
Musk has argued he’s not personally concerned in pursuing SpaceX contracts. However federal contracting programs require the federal government to keep away from not solely precise conflicts of curiosity, however even the looks of them.
“By any objective standard, this is inappropriate,” stated Steven Schooner, a former authorities contracts lawyer who’s now a professor finding out authorities procurement at George Washington College.
“Given the power he wields and the access he enjoys,” Schooner added, “we just have never seen anything like this.”
This text initially appeared in The New York Instances.
Initially Revealed: March 23, 2025 at 11:09 AM PDT
