Musk is the US$350 billion Rocket Man who fell to Earth

THE popcorn emoji is out in force as the world’s richest person feuds with its most powerful leader. Even Thierry Breton, the European regulator who was a frequent target of Elon Musk’s ire, is at it. Still, as entertaining as the billionaire’s spat with Donald Trump may be, it also carries costly lessons for a US$630 billion space economy dominated by Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX – such is the danger of co-dependence between de facto monopolies and increasingly protectionist states.

This danger wasn’t high on the agenda at the peak of Trump’s “bromance” with Musk, when the then-president-elect described SpaceX’s reusable rocket revolution in the way a Renaissance monarch might have praised a successful colonial expedition – with a mix of national pride, geopolitical influence and financial potential: “I called Elon. I said, ‘Elon, was that (landing manoeuvre) you?’ He said, ‘Yes, it was.’ I said, ‘...Can Russia do it?’ ‘No.’ ‘Can China do it?’ ‘No.’ ‘Can the United States do it, other than you?’ ‘No, nobody can do that.’ ‘That’s why I love you, Elon.’”

Since then, the love has turned to stardust as the contradictions inherent in Musk’s US$350 billion space empire spill over. The hypocrisy of a billionaire pitching himself as “dark Maga” – “Make America Great Again” – and taking a chainsaw to government spending while SpaceX (and Tesla) benefits from US$22 billion worth of government contracts is exacerbating the clash of egos, with Trump threatening to withdraw taxpayer support.