SpaceX is building hundreds of spy satellites under a secret contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, demonstrating the closer ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.
This latest venture illustrates that despite the highly critical language he uses to target Biden and his administration, Musk is more than happy to do business with them.
The satellites are being built by SpaceX’s Starshield division under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that oversees spy satellites.
The contract underscores the extent of SpaceX’s reach in U.S. intelligence and military projects.
Musk and Biden have clashed frequently in the past, with both men criticizing the other’s leadership and positions.
SpaceX is building hundreds of spy satellites under a secret contract with a US intelligence agency, demonstrating the closer ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies
The satellites are being built by SpaceX’s Starshield division under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021
These satellites can operate as a swarm in low orbits, tracking targets on the ground and sharing the collected data with U.S. intelligence and military officials.
They would give the government the ability to continuously capture images of activities on the ground, almost anywhere in the world.
The network of spy satellites represents one of the government’s most sought-after capabilities in space because it is designed to provide the most persistent, ubiquitous, and rapid coverage of activities on Earth.
“No one can hide,” said a person familiar with the program.
If the joint venture is successful, the program would dramatically improve the government’s ability to detect potential targets almost anywhere in the world.
The Pentagon is already a major customer of SpaceX, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads into space. Starshield’s first prototype satellite, launched in 2020, was part of a separate contract worth about $200 million that helped position SpaceX for its subsequent $1.8 billion award, one of the sources said.
The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation, which has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide consumers, businesses and government agencies with near-global internet.
The Starshield network is part of an intensifying competition between the US and its rivals to become the dominant military power in space, in part by expanding spy satellite systems away from bulky, expensive spacecraft in higher orbits. Instead, a massive low-orbit network could enable faster and near-constant imaging of Earth.
China also plans to build its own satellite constellations, and the Pentagon has warned of space weapon threats from Russia that could take out entire satellite networks.
Starshield wants to be more resilient against attacks from advanced space powers.
The latest spy network is also intended to significantly expand the US government’s remote sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with image sensors, as well as a larger number of relay satellites that relay the image data and other communications over the network using inter-satellite lasers, said two of the sources.
The NRO includes personnel from the US Space Force and the CIA and provides classified satellite imagery for the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies.
The contract signals growing confidence in the intelligence community of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the war in Ukraine.
The Pentagon is already a major customer of SpaceX, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads into space
The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation, which has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide consumers, businesses and government agencies with near-global internet.
Joe Biden is briefed on the deadly drone attack on a US outpost in Jordan on January 29 in the Situation Room of the White House in Washington, by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and other members of the National Intelligence Service. security team. , 2024
On March 5, Musk claimed the border disruption was part of the Biden-led plan to import voters.
And he recently announced that he would not contribute any of his $188.5 billion fortune to the Biden or Trump candidacies.
The entrepreneur has also described himself as a champion of anti-wokeness, and he regularly expresses his displeasure with Biden’s “woke” policies.
Biden has been less explicit in his criticism of Musk, but his statements, while oblique, are still sharp.
The president has consistently dismissed Tesla when praising the efforts of electric car makers.
During his State of the Union address two years ago, Biden praised Ford and GM’s work on electric vehicles but did not mention Tesla.
And in August 2021, Biden did not invite Musk to an EV summit at the White House, despite Musk being the CEO of the largest electric car company in the US.
Biden’s neglect culminated in the creation of a petition calling on the president to recognize Tesla and its status as a leading EV manufacturer. The petition was submitted by fans and received almost 40,000 signatures.
But the relationship between Musk and Biden remains fruitful and this latest contract involves an advanced new spy system involving hundreds of satellites with Earth imaging capabilities.