President Donald Trump is waiting to face the crowd during the debut for Dreamliner 787-10 at the Boeing South Carolina premises on February 17, 2017 in northern Charleston, South Carolina.
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siOeing has made steady progress in the direction of exploiting the aircraft commercial business within the new CEO Kelly Ortberg. The spectacular collapse of the relationship between President Donald Trump and his former first friend Elon Musk could offer a lift for his space.
In a shocking exchange of angry statements in the social media on Thursday, Trump threatened to cancel federal contracts with Musk companies. The richest man in the world responded by arguing that his satellite company’s rocket and satellite company would “start decommissioning his spacecraft immediately”.
If Musk does this, it could offer a boost for former Boeing Dragon competitor, the Starliner crew capsule. Thursday’s Blowup could also have a repayment for Boeing in two other areas: the Moon Artemis Moon landing program, for which Boeing produces giant missiles. And for United Launch Alliance, Rocket’s consortium with Lockheed Martin.
It is unlikely that Trump will follow his threat to cancel the contracts – which would provide rich reasons for legal challenges, said Todd Harrison, a space and defense analyst at the American Institute of Business. But there is plenty of room for the administration to direct the new business to Boeing and others – and possibly pull behind the Trump support he promised his inaugural address for Musk’s ambition to reach Mars. “Where Trump can hurt SpaceX in a significant way is to redirect the mission goals for NASA,” Harrison said.
Space taxi
NASA captured Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 to develop spaceships to throw away US astronauts at the International Space Station on a commercial basis rather than in the possession and operation of vehicles themselves. But Boeing has undergone a series of annoying failures with Starliner, letting NASA depend on SpaceX’s Dragon. The organization has since added three more launches to the SpaceX Convention for a total of nine.
Boeing has lost $ 2 billion for the fixed price contract of $ 4.6 billion.
There were questions about Starliner’s future after his troubled first test flight to ISS last year. Although he transported astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore successfully to the ISS, Thruster’s malfunctions led NASA to decide that it was too dangerous to return to Earth at Starliner. Astronauts were forced to wait for the space station for nine months to reach a dragon capsule to get them back.
Musk’s threat to withdraw from Dragon could change the accounting for administration.
“I think NASA may feel that the existence of alternatives would be wise,” said Tim Farrar, an independent satellite industry adviser.
A wild: Russia is not committed to supporting the ISS beyond 2028.
To the moon
At the request of the 2026 budget, Trump’s administration proposed a radical review of the Artemis program, which began during the president’s first term to return to Americans to the moon. The administration wants to form the Giant Boeing rocket at the center of the program, the space launch system, after two more launches. The nickname of the “Senate launch system” for the pork provided by the program, a single launch costs a sharp $ 4 billion. The budget request suggested that the transition to cheapest commercial systems – with the main candidates expected to be provided to be SpaceX and Blue Origin.
But it was not clear that the Congress would happen with the cutting of SLS, which supports jobs in all 50 states. The Senate Commerce Committee referenced It examines the restoration of the $ 4 billion cut by the NASA budget for SLS and Trump’s administration may not be willing to fight them.
“It seems more likely now that NASA can continue with an artemis program that uses SLS,” Harrison said.
Another possible winner besides Boeing: Blue Origin. NASA has entered into the company and SpaceX owned by Jeff Bezos and to produce lunar protections for the Artemis program. With three consecutive failed flight tests for SpaceX’s massive starship missile, required to transport the company’s Lander, NASA could decide to double with blue origin.
National security
Blowup could lead the Ministry of Defense and other National Security Organizations to double their efforts to differentiate stable satellite launch providers dominated by SpaceX. But the immediate upward trend could be limited to ULA, Boeing and Lockheed’s Launch Company, which must increase the rates of the new Vulcan rocket. “ULA was unable to get all SpaceX conventions, even if they were delivered to them,” Harrison explained
Toxic dissolution with Musk could also lead to defense officials to review how much they would like to rely on SpaceX for Golden Dome, the management plan to create a rocket defense shield for the United States.
“This can give people to stop when they think if this money has to go to Musk or to more traditional contractors,” Farrar said. Like, let’s say, Boeing.
