What if DOGE is a front to funnel money to the world’s richest man? I worry we’re being desensitized to blatant corruption.
“In the wake of a firing spree that gutted some NOAA space operations, Donald Trump Jr’s investment firm stoked speculation by purchasing $50m worth of SpaceX shares.”
For the less than scrupulous, you too can jump on the gravy train!
From the article -
Gutting space traffic control
The nascent space traffic coordination program manages thousands of satellites, debris and spacecraft, and helps prevent up to 50,000 near-collisions, called conjunctions, daily. Starlink accounts for a large number of those.
Called the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCCS), the program would also eventually provide launch and re-entry services for commercial satellites and spacecraft, former employees said. Musk’s company already works closely with TraCCS, but the program has avoided “vendor lock” and contracts with multiple companies, in no small part because Musk’s agenda may not always align with the nation’s, one former official said.
“SpaceX is a great service provider, but as long as he’s in control of the company it’s not anything that can be counted on,” a former NOAA employee said.
Those who spoke with the Guardian said it didn’t appear that SpaceX had any interest in privatizing or taking over TraCCS prior to Trump’s re-election, but Musk’s DOGE fired all but one TraCCS member – in effect crippling a sorely needed operation. That could open the door for privatization, and SpaceX is best positioned.
“They discover something is broken and conveniently say: ‘Oh, we can fix this,’” a former NOAA employee said.
On a macro level - “The danger is that Musk’s enterprises could morph into government-sponsored monopolies that would operate with no fear of antitrust prosecution,” Whitehouse added.