New York Times Highlights Musk's Controversy with Real Names of 3 Rival Founders Reported
SpaceX, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has been accused of blocking market entry by latecomers to become the largest private space company.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 28th (local time) that "billionaire CEO Musk used his immense power and influence to drive out late competitors from the market, and they call this a 'foul play.'"
The NYT cited the real names of three competing company founders, adding credibility to SpaceX's so-called 'foul play allegations.'
According to the NYT, Peter Beck, founder of rocket launch company Rocket Lab, said that after meeting Musk in 2019 and discussing his company, SpaceX significantly lowered the launch price for small payloads. It is claimed that Musk deliberately induced a 'price war' to reduce the chances of success for late entrants.
Since its founding in 2006, Rocket Lab has succeeded in reaching orbit more than 40 times and has emerged as a blue chip by sending nearly 200 satellites into space at the industry's lowest cost.
Beck claimed that SpaceX later set the initial price for its transport service using its main launch vehicle Falcon 9 at $5,000 per kilogram, which is below the basic cost of rocket launches. This is only about 20% of Rocket Lab's launch price per kilogram ($21,500).
Jim Cantrell, who worked with Musk at SpaceX's founding in 2002 and later founded the rocket launch company Phantom Space, said that two prospective customers informed him that they could not sign contracts with Phantom Space due to SpaceX's intervention. He told the NYT, "We are having difficulty raising the necessary capital, which is delaying the production and operation of new rockets."
Tim Ellis, founder of rocket manufacturing startup Relativity Space, said he heard that SpaceX was trying to block funding for his business, the "Mars Project."
SpaceX did not respond to the NYT's request for comment on the claims made by competing companies.
SpaceX continues to receive steady government funding as it secures more federal contracts through market dominance and low costs. Last year alone, SpaceX signed $3.1 billion in federal launch prime contracts. This amount is comparable to the combined contract sizes of nine major industry players, including Boeing and Northrop Grumman. The U.S. military authorities are practically dependent on Falcon 9 to launch military and reconnaissance satellites.
The industry expects that if the large spacecraft Starship succeeds in Earth orbit flight in the future, SpaceX will dominate the global space business for the next decade. Last year, SpaceX succeeded in 96 rocket launches and orbital insertions, overwhelming the total number of successful launches by all other competitors combined in the U.S. (7 times).
However, the NYT stated, "Next-generation space entrepreneurs are concerned about Musk's anti-competitive tactics, and some of them are willing to publicly challenge Musk on this issue."
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