Does ULA have a reusable rocket? They could probably use some government money to develop one.
Blue Origin has New Glenn which is partly reusable but has only flown once and did not land. Also they have serious organization challenges so they are a very distant second to Spacex. In terms of reuse and also cadence.
The best thing that could happen is if Musk left Tesla and SpaceX and let them continue under adult supervision.
SpaceX has actually made space cheap enough for a lot of other stuff to make sense, but without competition the profits are as big as Musk needs for R&D for his hobby of LARPing sci-fi he clearly hasn't read deeply (in this case Red Mars; in the cases of Neuralink and the SpaceX drone ships, The Culture).
NASA does not directly subsidise launches as far as I can telk.
What NASA does do is contract launch services through competitive tenders.
SpaceX only opened this door by arguing they were cheaper, and only kept the door open by then actually delivering, unlike all the other big players in the US.
Unfortunately for everyone who likes space stuff but not Musk personally (e.g. me), SpaceX is currently a lot better than everyone else — at least, better than everyone outside China, they're harder to speak of confidently.
ceejayoz•1d ago
ben_w•1d ago
I don't see Trump caring what happens to the ISS, up to and including uncontrolled re-entry.
toomuchtodo•1d ago
Musk calls for deorbiting ISS “as soon as possible” - https://spacenews.com/musk-calls-for-deorbiting-iss-as-soon-... - February 20th, 2025
ceejayoz•1d ago
They might not do the extra stuff NASA wants anymore, but they're currently the only US option to get astronauts to space.
TheAlchemist•1d ago
Starlink is Tesla all over again - projections of profitability going exponential, only to be met with reality some years later.
ceejayoz•1d ago
TheAlchemist•1d ago
NASA / DOD needs SpaceX (for now) and if Musk thinks he can just stop working with / for them and continue his rocket business as usual, he's getting really delusional.
VOIPThrowaway2•1d ago
ben_w•1d ago
Yes, but does Trump care?
insane_dreamer•1d ago
selivanovp•1d ago
rsynnott•1d ago
echoangle•9h ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(spacecraft)
msgodel•19h ago
jrs235•17h ago