Wired: Elon Musk's Fight With Trump Threatens $48 Billion in Government Contracts
"...Most of Musk’s work for the government is through his private space technology company SpaceX, which launches rockets and also sells satellite-based internet. Beside NASA, the US military heavily depends on SpaceX to help launch satellites into orbit for secure communications, spying on enemies, and GPS functioning.
In the coming years, SpaceX is slated to directly collect about $34 billion from NASA and the US military for rocket-related projects. The estimate includes the maximum amount of unpaid but contracted funds, according to summaries the US government posts online.
The data show the US is also on the hook for about $14 billion for SpaceX’s Starlink internet service at numerous offices, such as a Department of Interior facility in Nevada.
The data could be outdated or include errors, but many of the listed figures line up with press releases from agencies such as the US Space Force. Some of the funding is subject to Congressional approval, and a portion could end up going to SpaceX’s rivals.
But SpaceX’s competitors have faced numerous technical setbacks, and Musk’s company remains the dominant market leader. The billionaire said this week that SpaceX would earn about $15.5 billion in revenue this year, nearly double estimates from two years ago. SpaceX has accounted for 134 of the 166 orbital launches in the US so far this year, according to tracking by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian...."
The part where Musk claims he'll be around for 40+ years is the part worth thinking about.
One can't be too sure that either Trump (short term) or the US Military (long term) would really want what would be a long legal and technological grind that would come with contracting of Musk's rivals,
since some of what SpaceX does is not replaceable (since he owns the Falcon 9's) and really has no rivals. It's also arguable that Musk himself is replaceable or has rivals.