Besides Tesla, Elon Musk is also focused on exploring the space, through its second company, Space X. Also, they’re about to marking a very important milestone, being very close to win its first U.S. military satellite, after Boeing Co.-Lockheed Martin Corp., the second certified bidder in the deal, decided that they don’t want to compete anymore, according to Bloomberg.
SpaceX applied hours before the deadline
A person familiar with the matter said that SpaceX applied for the mission, scheduled for 2018, exactly in the last day. Also, United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed operator, couldn’t agree with the terms of the deal, therefore they didn’t made a bid able to qualify.
“We look forward to working with the Air Force to address the obstacles to ULA’s participation in future launch competitions to enable a full and fair competition,” said SpaceX’s spokeswoman, Jessica Rye.
The two companies started competing in the ‘battle’ for launching a GPS satellite ever since Space Exploration Technologies Corp. won U.S. Air Force certification for organizing national-security missions, back in May. Also, until now, the only supplier for sensitive satellite launches, was United Launch Alliance. Currently, SpaceX has all the reasons to enter this market, whose value should reach $70 billion until 2030.
The smaller price is most likely to be accepted
The main reasons why United Launch Alliance decided to not bid were the restrictions to import Russian-made rocked engines, imposed by the Defense Department. These engines were used to power the company’s launch vehicles during previous missions.
As for Space X, they’re planning to charge less than $100 million, if accepted for the military mission, as the company’s COO, Gwynne Shotwell told back in March to a United Stated House of Representatives subcommitee in March. Their offer is way better than Boeing-Lockheed, aiming to obtain $160 million or even more, for their Atlas V rocket.
