Musk's SpaceX Wins $8 Trillion Pentagon Jackpot... Concerns Over 'Conflict of Interest'

SpaceX, the space company led by Elon Musk, has reportedly won a satellite launch contract worth around 8 trillion won from the U.S. Department of Defense, according to reports on the 4th (local time). However, concerns about conflicts of interest have been raised as Musk is known to be a close associate of U.S. President Donald Trump and serves as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Elon Musk. Yonhap News

According to Yonhap News and major foreign media on the same day, the U.S. Space Systems Command under the Department of Defense announced that it had signed a total $13.5 billion (approximately 19.7438 trillion won) space force rocket launch contract with three companies: SpaceX, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Blue Origin. ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and Blue Origin is a space company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Among the companies, SpaceX secured the largest contract worth $5.9 billion (approximately 8.6288 trillion won), followed by ULA with $5.3 billion (approximately 7.7513 trillion won), and Blue Origin with $2.3 billion (approximately 3.3638 trillion won).

The U.S. Space Force plans to assign about 50 rocket launch missions to the three companies by 2029. SpaceX will handle the most with 28 missions, ULA will take 19, and Blue Origin will cover the remainder. The project is known to include launches of various orbit satellites circling the Earth.

Upon hearing the news of the contract win, Musk took to his social media (SNS) to downplay the competitors who jointly won the contract, stating, "(SpaceX) winning 60% of the total missions may sound generous, but in reality, even if you combine all of SpaceX’s competitors, they cannot achieve the remaining 40%."

However, since Musk serves as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which leads workforce reductions and federal spending cuts in the Trump administration, wielding significant influence over the government, concerns about conflicts of interest are expected to be raised regarding SpaceX’s government contracts.