Is Elon Musk building a spy satellite network for the United States based on his company SpaceX’s Starlink satellite designs?
It’s been reported by NBC that Elon Musk’s “SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency.”
According to The Wall Street Journal SpaceX has a “$1.8 billion classified Starshield contract with an unknown intelligence agency without detailing the purposes of the program.”
Read: They’re building spy satellites!
I’m not sure how I feel about this, or if I even have an opinion (which is a strange feeling for me).
On the one hand, creating a multi-planet civilization is expensive but that has been Elon Musk’s stated goal since he founded SpaceX.
On the other hand, anytime a private company gets into bed with a government there are ethical discussions to be had.
It’s not like these new spy satellites are tactical weapons. They’re used for spying on other countries from 500 miles overhead.
What about if information, that one of these SpaceX-built spy satellites, was used to make a decision that resulted in a Predator drone firing a missile on a compound in Afghanistan resulting in the loss of human life.
Not so easy now is it to weigh the ethical costs of doing business with a government now is it?
Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly building spy satellite network for the U.S.