During the (First) Cold War, the Reagan administration launched the much-touted SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) program, now better known under its more popular name – “Star Wars”. On paper, it was one of the most ambitious ventures ever undertaken by any country. However, many of the projects formally launched by the United States at the time never left the drawing board. It later turned out that SDI was largely a PR stunt aimed at pushing Russia into yet another expensive arms and space race. It could be argued that it worked to some extent, as Moscow actually built space-based weapons, including orbital lasers. What’s more, back in 1987, it launched a laser-armed spacecraft called the “Polyus/Skif-DM”. Although the program was scrapped due to the unfortunate dismantling of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin kept its know-how.

The US was quite fortunate that the USSR didn’t get to implement its unprecedented space projects during the 1990s, as many of these were more ambitious and far exceeded the best space tech available today. However, Washington DC has long been determined to militarize space, as it believes its massive private space sector gives it an edge over the rest of the world. This notion is not entirely without merit, as neither Russia nor China have comparable private ventures with investment on such a scale. However, both superpowers still have colossal state-run space programs and are not too keen on privatizing them (at least not on the same scale as the US did). On the other hand, while private space ventures aren’t always the best to rely on when it comes to strategic projects, the Trump administration is in a unique position to do so.

Namely, Elon Musk’s political alliance with Donald Trump gives him a major headstart in virtually all American space projects, further integrating his SpaceX with the US military at a time when its budget keeps growing. This position gives Musk’s company........

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