6 days Ago By By Kyle Hiebert
There are rumblings that Elon Musk — ever more a political liability — could exit the Trump administration soon. Indeed, his special government employee status already expires in late May. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
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99 a X percent off the regular rate. There are rumblings that Elon Musk — ever more a political liability — could exit the Trump administration soon. Indeed, his special government employee status already expires in late May.
Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Opinion There are rumblings that Elon Musk — ever more a political liability — could exit the Trump administration soon. Indeed, his special government employee status already expires in late May. Yet even if he leaves, the tech tycoon will retain outsize influence over the White House.
One reason: Musk’s company SpaceX is America’s biggest asset in the growing space race. A SpaceX Starship Super Heavy booster makes a successful return, caught at the launch tower in Boca Chica, Texas, on Jan. 16.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is locking up much of the U.S. government's space business.
(SpaceX) Over the past decade, technological progress, market speculation and geopolitical competition have ushered in a second space age, building off humanity’s initial use of Earth’s orbit during the Cold War. Except this time, it’s highly commercialized. Most of the over US$38 billion in government money and contracts awarded to Musk’s companies to date have gone to SpaceX.
It’s basically the sole provider of satellite launch services to NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense.
This reportedly includes classified contracts worth US$1.8 billion to build a vast network of spy satellites for U.S.
intelligence agencies. The U.S.
military relies on Starlink internet services as well, for its operations in remote corners of the globe. Activities within the turbocharged space economy are altogether forecast to generate US$1 trillion in revenue by 2040. More than 10,000 companies are currently pursuing opportunities at breathtaking speed and scale across at least 20 different business sectors.
Commercial ventures range from space tourism and private launch services to plans for space-based solar power, lunar mining and more. Meanwhile, back on Earth, satellite imaging, sensors and communications technologies are essential for navigation and supply chain logistics. Public, private and civil society actors alike also rely on these digital tools for climate resiliency.
They help to map out water resources, monitor drought conditions, measure deforestation and assist with disaster management and emergency responses. Space-based technologies also help strengthen food security by improving data collection on agricultural yields and enhancing transparency around providing development aid. In conflict zones, satellites can lessen the fog of war by tracking militants’ movements and assessing the destruction of property and displacement patterns.
However, overcrowding in space is also fast becoming a genuine concern. Some 11,000 satellites — ranging from the size of a desktop computer to a school bus — currently reside in low Earth orbit (altitudes below 2,000 kilometres). Another 20,000 satellites are on track for launch by 2030.
Adding to this orbital clutter is an estimated 170 million pieces of space junk floating around, which risk colliding with satellites and taking them offline at any moment. All of this underscores the profound lack of legal clarity around space governance. Article I of the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty, which underpins all international space law, decrees outer space shall “be free for exploration and use by all states without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality.
” Yet intergovernmental agreements meant to keep outer space a peaceful, equitable domain have not kept pace. And the absence of effective enforcement mechanisms means terrestrial hostilities are now encroaching into space. Russia last year vetoed a UN Security Council resolution co-sponsored by the U.
S. and Japan, calling for space to remain demilitarized. Media reports from February 2024 citing American intelligence sources suggest Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon, something the Kremlin denies.
China has run its own anti-satellite weapons program for decades. American military officials submitted written testimony this month to a panel of the U.S.
Congress that claimed China’s space-focused arsenal ranges from missiles and ground-based lasers to “satellites that can grab other satellites.” China’s goal, the generals say, is to fully field these capabilities before 2030. Beijing and Moscow have similarly condemned America’s Space Force.
A secretive sixth branch of the U.S. military founded in 2019 by the first Trump administration, its budget is around US$25 billion each year — nearly matching Canada’s entire defence spending.
The 2024 annual report from the Secure World Foundation, a private U.S.-based organization that promotes the sustainable use of outer space, suggests that Australia, France, Japan, Iran, Israel and North Korea also possess some degree of space-based electronic warfare capability.
As does India. During President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 4, he vowed to ensure that U.S.
astronauts would be the first to plant their country’s flag on the planet Mars. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur appointed by Trump to be the next head of NASA, echoed this on April 9 in a Senate panel hearing. If achieved, it would represent a revolutionary technical milestone.
More likely, however, is that outer space — instead of being harnessed for the betterment of humanity — in the near future becomes just another arena where great power adversaries flex raw nationalism. » Kyle Hiebert is a Winnipeg-based political risk analyst and former deputy editor of the Africa Conflict Monitor. This column previously appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press.
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