The dispute between Trump and Musk can also have consequences in space. What is the “catastrophic scenario” for NASA and Pentagon
More than a simple successful entrepreneur, Elon Musk has been imposed in recent years as a key actor in the space sector, with Washington entrusting a series of crucial missions in this area and a partnership in the future, but now becoming an explosive dispute with President Donald Trump, AFP reports.
His rockets carry NASA astronauts in space, serve extremely sensitive missions of the Pentagon and soon play a central role in the long-awaited return of Americans on the Moon.
But will things always stay that way? Following the unprecedented dispute of Thursday between the President of the United States and the South African Multimiliarder, former political allies, the uncertainty plan on the future of the partnerships between the American government and the spatial company of the famous entrepreneur.
In a series of angry messages published on their own social networks, the Republican President threatened that “he will cancel the government subsidies and contracts” for the owner Tesla and Spacex, who, in response, said that “it will take out the Drago space capsule”, produced by its company and used by NASA, before withdrawing a few hours.
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This unprecedented confrontation highlights the interdependence between the United States government and this private company and raises a series of questions about possible repercussions, although, at this stage, experts believe that a clear break is unlikely, because it would be too harmful to both parties.
“A bullet in the foot”
Established in 2002, SpaceX company imposed in record time as an actor different from all the others in the space sector, both in terms of commercial and government activities.
Through an unparalleled cadence of launches and its low costs, Spacex has signed billions of dollars contracts with US federal agents over the years, both for scientific missions and for national security missions, including to detect hypersonic missiles.
“If you remove Spacex from the equation, there would be a huge interruption in the” NASA and Pentagon's missions, “Clayton Swoper from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said.
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),” this specialist in spatial and defense issues revealed.
The Dragon capsule of Spacex is currently the only certified American flight device to transport astronauts in space, in the context in which its rival, the Starliner capsule, has undergone major delays in the development stage and then failures during its last year's testing flight.
A clear break with Spacex would therefore be “a catastrophic scenario” for both the government and Elon Musk, because of the astronomical amounts involved, Clayton Swopi insists, who believe that “everyone is about to pull a bullet in the foot.”
An opportunity for bezos
Due to these common risks and addictions, the two experts expect Donald Trump and Elon Musk to “overcome their disagreements and return to business.”
However, the US President, who has made an absolute value, showed in recent months that he does not hesitate to use all the government levers to target institutions and companies, as he has done against Harvard and Apple.
Sign of a possible beginning of distance from Spacex, NASA announced on Friday that it wants to evaluate “the possibility of a Starliner capsule flight to the International Space Station at the beginning of 2026”.
The spectacular dispute with Donald Trump could thus bring the benefits of Spacex rivals, including the Blue Origin spatial company, owned by another multimiliardar, the founder of the Amazon group, Jeff Bezos. But it should also be above all, to relaunch the debates on Washington's dependence on the private space sector.
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“It could make people believe that it is not wise to give so much confidence” to companies, especially for these sensitive activities, “said Clayton Swope.
“This brings damage to the space industry as a whole,” says Laura Forczyk, an analyst in the space sector, who warns with a possible recoil of the spatial ambitions of the Republican President, which would affect the long -term plans of NASA, which is already in crisis.
Threatened with drastic discounts of its budget, the United States Space Agency does not yet have an administrator, after the candidate appointed by Donald Trump, an entrepreneur close to Elon Musk, was excluded at the last moment in the appointment procedure in this position.
