Their rockets are taking NASA’s astronauts to NASA space, used highly sensitive missions to pentagon and soon had to play a central role in the long and expected return of the Americans on the moon.
Much more than a successful businessman, Elon Musk has been established in recent years as a key player in the space sector, Washington entrusts him with a series of crucial missions in this field, an association in the future today uncertain after his explosive rest with President Donald Trump.
After the unpublished breakdown on Thursday between the US president and the billionaire, the former allies, uncertainty looms over the future of associations between the US government and the multi -million dollar space society.
With the furious messages published in their respective social networks, the Republican threatened “to cancel the subsidies and contracts of the government” of Tesla and Spacex Boss, who in response declared that he would leave “out of service his spacecraft of dragons”, used by NASA, before retracting a few hours later.
An unprecedented confrontation that highlights the interdependence of the US government and this private company and raises a series of questions about their possible repercussions, although these experts consider a clear rest, too harmful to both parties.
“A ball in the foot”
Founded in 2002, SPACEX has been established in record time as an actor with any other in the space sector, both in commercial and government activities.
With its unique launch cadence and low costs, it has signed contracts of several billions of dollars over the years with US federal agencies, for scientific and national security missions, especially for the detection of hypersonic missiles.
Among the first consequences: “The United States and its partners, including the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada, would depend on Russia for the transport of people to and from the International Space Station (ISS),” says this specialist in space and defense questions.
However, “in the current geopolitical climate, it would not be optimal,” Pointe Laura Pre -Fermek, an analyst of the space sector, in an interview with AFP.
The Spacex Dragon capsule is currently the only certified American device to transport astronauts, the rival boat of Boeing Starliner has suffered significant delays and then failures during its test flight last year.
Therefore, a frank break with Spacex would be a “catastrophic scenario” for both the government and Elon Musk, due to the astronomical sums at stake, insists Clayton Swope, for whom “everyone is shooting on the foot.”
General prejudice
Due to these risks and shared dependencies, these two experts expect Donald Trump and Elon Musk to “overcome their disagreements and resume business.”
However, the US president, who has erected loyalty in absolute value, has demonstrated in recent months that he did not hesitate to use all government levers to attack institutions and companies, as he did against Harvard or Apple University.
A sign of a possible start of distancing with Spacex, NASA announced Friday that it wants to evaluate “the possibility of a Starliner flight to the International Space Station in early 2026”.
The spectacular peak with Donald Trump could benefit the Spacex rivals, including the Blue -Origin Space Company of another billionaire, the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. But it should also and above all relaunch the debate about Washington’s dependence against the private space sector.
“This is prejudice for the entire space industry,” said Laura Pre -Pétazyk, which warns against a possible decrease in the spatial ambitions of the Republican President, which would affect NASA’s long -term plans, already in the control of a crisis.
Threatened with Frank Cuts in its budget, the agency has not yet been equipped with an administrator, the candidate appointed by Donald Trump, a businessman near Elon Musk, who was fired at the last minute last week.
Source: BFM TV
