Who will decide the Future of Space Technology: Trump or Musk?

Published: 11 Jun 2025

Author: Precedence Research

Share :

The ongoing dispute between billionaire and famous entrepreneur Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump has exacerbated and created uncertainty over NASA’s budget for its next endeavor, which was already facing internal issues. The White House had requested huge cuts in the budget of the space agency, which would be nearly half of the current budget. The US space program might be in jeopardy due to Trump's stand to withdraw the federal contract that had been made with Elon’s company.

NASA depends on the Falcon 9 rocket by Musk’s firm SpaceX, and its fleet to send supplies to the International Space Station along with crew members and necessities to survive there. They are also planning to use a starship rocket for further space projects to send humans to the Moon and then Mars, once it has developed accordingly.

A space scientist at the Open University, Dr Simeon Barber, said, “The astonishing exchanges, snap decisions and U-Turns we’ve witnessed in the last week undermine the very foundation that we build our ambitions on. Space science and exploration relies upon long-term planning and cooperation between governments, companies, and academic institutions.”

Even before the row between these two leaders, there was serious concern about the proposed cuts to space programs. 40 science missions are in space already (at ISS), and some of them are in the development phase and have halted in the current scenario.  
President Trump has two main targets to fulfill: landing on the moon astronauts before China and building an astronaut space with the US flag on Mars. Nasa also revealed its budget as per the reduction request by the White House, and if it gets permission to proceed, it will give momentum and a fundamental shift to the Space Agency. 

However, these projects' future seems uncertain due to a dispute over a cost-reduction request by the White House to Nasa. Along with this, the future of dozens of projects is at stake as the amount for them has already been paid, which is related to the study of other planets and to monitoring the effect of climate circulation on the Earth from the space station, and many of these projects have various collaborators and international partners.