In American politics, the rift between Trump and Elon Musk has truly placed the federal government in a bind. Recently, the White House has called for a review of the government contracts held by SpaceX, and the findings show that these agreements are crucial for national defense and space exploration—almost impossible to terminate. The U.S. government is heavily reliant on SpaceX, and despite the internal dissatisfaction with Musk, finding an alternative has proven to be a major challenge.
Sources reveal that Trump initiated an investigation into SpaceX as early as June, following Musk’s critical comments on Trump’s tax and spending policies on social media. This led their policy differences to escalate into a personal feud. Trump took to social media to express that the most effective way to save public funds is to terminate SpaceX’s government contracts.
Subsequently, Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration, emailed the Department of Defense requesting a detailed list of all contracts with SpaceX. He also sought the same information from NASA and five other government agencies. Internally, this information is referred to as Scoreboard, which not only lists the contract amounts but also assesses whether other companies have the capacity to carry out similar tasks.
Although the White House aims to investigate potential waste issues, most of SpaceX’s contracts are considered essential under the scrutiny of the Department of Defense and NASA. Insiders have indicated that while some contracts may require further review, a complete termination of cooperation is not a viable option.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell recently met with officials at the White House. While the specific details of their conversation have not been made public, this indicates a significant level of concern from the White House regarding the matter.
In the future, while SpaceX may encounter other competitors, the current market situation reveals that no other company can rival SpaceX in terms of the scale and performance of rocket launches. The Falcon rockets held by SpaceX, with their reusable technology, have become the primary tool for transporting government satellites, while Crew Dragon stands as the only crewed spacecraft certified by NASA, serving the International Space Station.
This year, SpaceX successfully launched an upgraded GPS satellite for the U.S. Space Force, and according to reports, the Pentagon has awarded it a national security launch mission worth $5.9 billion, with plans for up to 28 launches. NASA also intends to collaborate with SpaceX on more crewed missions in the future.
Despite the ambitions of other space companies to join the competition, most are still grappling with technical challenges and engineering delays. Although the federal government has tried to design contract terms to encourage more participation from businesses, we still haven’t seen effective competition emerge. Officials have stated that, at this moment, there are no other companies in the market that can match SpaceX in terms of scale or performance.
In response, SpaceX expressed its eagerness to embrace the competition. During an investor meeting, Gwynne Shotwell emphasized that the company’s ongoing success in securing contracts comes from its competitive pricing and robust execution capabilities.
Additionally, SpaceX is continuously expanding its operations. Its Starlink satellite network is currently serving multiple government agencies, while another division, Starshield, has signed confidential contracts with U.S. intelligence agencies to venture into the defense data transmission and encrypted communications market.
