Thanks to his position of strength and his allies within the administration, including President Donald Trump himself, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company should obtain billions of dollars from new federal contracts. In a survey published on March 23THE New York Times reveals that the company benefits from policies that promote private suppliers for special transport, satellite manufacturing or communications.
All the branches of the multimillionaire company, now at the head of the department of “government efficiency” responsible for drastically reducing administration spending, would thus be placed at the top of the pile of private organizations likely to collect subsidies and contracts from billions of euros. Until the heart of the Department of Defense, “Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company is presented as the revolutionary means allowing the Pentagon to quickly transport military freight around the world,” reports the big American daily in his investigation.
NASA could rest more on Space X
Not only was the Starlink Internet service of SpaceX also declared eligible for the $ 42 billion intended for the expansion of rural broadband “after being widely excluded under Biden”, but antennas were installed in the White House and at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According to the newspaper, some SpaceX employees detached to the FAA have even been authorized to make decisions promoting the company, without specifying which, but nevertheless pointing that the FAA recently approved an increase in satellite launches and rockets from Cap Canaveral to 120 per year.
Within NASA, where Space X exploits are already touted, according to the newspaper, the colossal Elon Musk company could take gradual control more and more missions. Because if his appointment has not yet been confirmed, it was Jared Isaamman, a former SpaceX customer in which his company, Shift4 Payments, has already invested, who has been supplied by Donald Trump to lead NASA under his mandate. If he is confirmed, “he could promote SpaceX by redirecting the Artémis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon, and by gradually eliminating the Boeing contract for the construction of rockets, for the benefit of private actors like SpaceX and Blue Origin”, supposes the New York Times.
Recently already, Elon Musk – which, according to the newspaper, would do pressure on NASA for the agency to refocus its activity around Mars – has already declared that Spacex would send an uninhabited vessel on March by 2026 and humans in 2029. An initiative for which he will probably seek funding from NASA. Furthermore, “the project Golden Domelaunched by Donald Trump to set up a defense system against nuclear missiles, could be a new financial windfall for SpaceX, with a potential budget of $ 100 billion per year, “said the New York Times.
52 new contracts and billions of grants
Even before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, and the arrival of Elon Musk to the government, the companies of the Tech magnate had already benefited from the taxpayer’s money. Over the past twenty years, its companies have received more than $ 38 billion in public procurement, loans grants and tax credits, revealed on February 26 Another survey of Washington Post. Two-thirds have been allocated in the past five years, and Musk and its companies have received approximately 6.3 billion in 2024. An amount probably underestimated, according to the Washington Postwhich specifies that “this analysis relates only to contracts accessible to the public and does not take into account the classified defense and intelligence work carried out for the federal government”.
Now powerful employee of the White House, Musk seems to directly influence budgetary and contractual decisions. Since January, he has dismissed more than 100,000 federal employees as part of his public spending optimization program. In parallel according to the calculations of the Washington Post52 new contracts with seven government agencies are already in the process of providing its companies with an additional $ 11.8 billion. “SpaceX has several current requests to build new launch sites in Florida and California” on federal land, notably details the New York Timeswhich could allow him to “generate additional billions”.
Since the president of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was replaced by an ally of Musk on the initiative of Donald Trump – Brendan Carr – The private space company also obtained a first agreement to be able to use more radiofrequency specters, which would increase his profits. Under its direction, the FCC also validated an increase in power of Starlink satellites to offer a mobile telephone service from space.
Many voices are raised, in the political sphere as in the private sector, against the growing influence of Elon Musk within the government, and against the ethical questions posed by his double role as presidential advisor and CEO of SpaceX. A concern swept by the Trump government. With New York Timesthe spokesperson for the White House Karoline Leavitt, assured that Elon Musk, as a “special government employee”, had been informed of ethical rules and would respect all the applicable federal laws.