Will Trump bow to Musk’s will?
Dead Space
President Donald Trump seems poised to dissolve the White House’s National Space Council after being heavily lobbied by SpaceX to do so, Reuters reports — which ultimately sounds like a roundabout way of saying Elon Musk wants it gone, and is getting what he wants.
Per Reuters‘ reporting, SpaceX’s top lobbyist Mat Dunn, along with Trump’s aides, have told associates that they think the Space Council is a “waste of time” — echoing the anti-bureaucratic rhetoric aimed at federal agencies that Trump and Musk have championed (see: DOGE).
Further auguring its demise, Trump’s team hasn’t contacted the Space Council about its transition plans following his election victory, a Reuters source said, even though he has extended this courtesy to other agencies, including NASA. Its offices have mostly been emptied, a source said, while its website currently displays a “404 page not found” error.
Blood Panel
The US’s original Space Council was formed in 1958 under president Eisenhower, but its existence has always been shaky, being disbanded and revived on several occasions. Most recently it was reestablished in 2017 by Trump, to great fanfare from space enthusiasts. By law, it‘s supposed to be chaired by the Vice President.
Now, its fate hangs in the balance once again, if it hasn’t already been decided behind the scenes. That it’s being seriously considered for the chopping block at all is a sign of Musk’s closeness to, if not influence over, Trump, for whom he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help win the presidency.
Big picture, it’s also symptomatic of the private space industry’s rapid rise in influence, in many ways supplanting NASA’s dominance. NASA has come to rely heavily on SpaceX’s launch capabilities. Its own attempt at developing a super heavy rocket, SLS, has dragged on for years and has only launched once, while SpaceX’s alternative, Starship, has seen action seven times, albeit it with mixed results. There’s also the success of Starlink, Musk’s satellite constellation-based internet service, which SpaceX is able to replenish and expand with its own rockets.
Obstacle Removal
The upshot is that Musk and SpaceX will want to continue that rapid upward trajectory. A policy panel solely dedicated to space, even under a friendly administration, might be seen as just another bureaucratic hurdle.
As Reuters notes, the panel stirred discontent in the commercial space sector with a 2023 proposal that would give relevant federal agencies a mandate to license private space activities, in effect giving the government greater supervision over private missions in space.
Musk in particular has a well-documented vendetta against the Federal Aviation Administration, calling for the resignation of its chief last year. The FAA has final say over what gets launched and has often delayed greenlighting Starship launches, much to Elon’s chagrin.
With the National Space Council out the window, it would likely mean Musk would have the president ear’s on space policy — without being checked by the VP, who would normally chair the council.
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