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Is NASA Too Dependent on SpaceX and Elon Musk?

5 points by ryzvonusef 3y ago

ryzvonusef 3y ago
> A Pentagon official tells Farrow that it “sucks” to live in a world where “Elon runs this company and it is a private business under his control.” I get the sentiment, but is he aware of how every other military capability is provided in the US? The problem of the military industrial complex isn’t limited to SpaceX, or even the executive branch—pork-barrel loving lawmakers helped create the conditions for SpaceX’s rivals to wallow in the trough. And SpaceX wouldn’t stand alone if companies like Boeing, which receive much more generous treatment from the government, hadn’t failed repeatedly to deliver.
- mytailorisrich 3y ago
  The issue the Pentagon has is not that SpaceX is a private business but that they they do not depend on orders from the Pentagon even if Elon owns it. In the US the companies providing hardware and services to the Pentagon are private, but many of them depend so much on government/military contracts that the Pentagon effectively controls them. For instance, it takes a few minutes to find out that 85% of Northrop Grumman's revenue comes from the US government and that 2 former military high-ups sit on its board...
MattGaiser 3y ago
> I get the sentiment, but is he aware of how every other military capability is provided in the US? The problem of the military industrial complex isn’t limited to SpaceX, or even the executive branch—pork-barrel loving lawmakers helped create the conditions for SpaceX’s rivals to wallow in the trough The author and the Pentagon official see different problems here. The author sees the problem as privatization. The Pentagon official probably doesn't object to privatization, but rather the immense level of control of one individual in this particular case. Raytheon and US government, particularly military, interests are nearly perfectly aligned. Raytheon is not some rich guy's personal playground. SpaceX is not aligned with the Pentagon and is a rich guy's personal playground.

5 points by ryzvonusef 3y ago

> A Pentagon official tells Farrow that it “sucks” to live in a world where “Elon runs this company and it is a private business under his control.” I get the sentiment, but is he aware of how every other military capability is provided in the US? The problem of the military industrial complex isn’t limited to SpaceX, or even the executive branch—pork-barrel loving lawmakers helped create the conditions for SpaceX’s rivals to wallow in the trough. And SpaceX wouldn’t stand alone if companies like Boeing, which receive much more generous treatment from the government, hadn’t failed repeatedly to deliver.

mytailorisrich 3y ago
The issue the Pentagon has is not that SpaceX is a private business but that they they do not depend on orders from the Pentagon even if Elon owns it. In the US the companies providing hardware and services to the Pentagon are private, but many of them depend so much on government/military contracts that the Pentagon effectively controls them. For instance, it takes a few minutes to find out that 85% of Northrop Grumman's revenue comes from the US government and that 2 former military high-ups sit on its board...

MattGaiser 3y ago

> I get the sentiment, but is he aware of how every other military capability is provided in the US? The problem of the military industrial complex isn’t limited to SpaceX, or even the executive branch—pork-barrel loving lawmakers helped create the conditions for SpaceX’s rivals to wallow in the trough The author and the Pentagon official see different problems here. The author sees the problem as privatization. The Pentagon official probably doesn't object to privatization, but rather the immense level of control of one individual in this particular case. Raytheon and US government, particularly military, interests are nearly perfectly aligned. Raytheon is not some rich guy's personal playground. SpaceX is not aligned with the Pentagon and is a rich guy's personal playground.