WASHINGTON: The breakthrough came next month, about 600 yards above Earth. The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency made the first use of lasers to convey information between military satellites at light speed, making it simpler to identify and capture down enemy missiles if needed.
It was a step not only for the Pentagon. This was a defining time for a particular up-and-coming military contractor, who had created Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, one of the main components of this new system. Over the past year, SpaceX has made a significant shift into the field of creating war and spy satellites, a field that has traditionally been dominated by big players like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman as well as by smaller players like York Space Systems.
This change comes as the Pentagon and US spy agencies prepare to spend billions of dollars on the construction of a number of new low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations, the majority of which are in response to China’s current attempts to build its own space-based defense systems. SpaceX is poised to leverage on that, prompting a new flood of inquiries within the federal government regarding Musk’s substantial business activities in China and his contacts with foreign government officials, potentially including Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as its growing dominance as a military storage company.
In a field where protection is frequently viewed as synonymous with regularity, Musk is also uncertain. He chafes at many of the procedures and rules of state, saying they hold up progress, and wants to make his personal enquiries.
Todd Harrison, a former room industry executive and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said,” The problem is that you’re very dependent on a business that is personally held, which means we have very little presence into their money.”
