The US military has given Elon Musk’s SpaceX access to restricted space tracking data, raising a new round of questions about whether the Trump administration is attempting to hand over traffic control in Earth’s orbit to a controversial donor. The access also raises new national security questions, industry observers say. The move comes after Musk’s Doge in 2025 fired many of the federal government’s nascent space traffic control program’s staff, and the administration has twice attempted to financially gut the department, called the Traffic Coordination System for Space (Traccs).
The moves were widely viewed in the industry as an attempt by Musk to privatize space traffic control. The defense department has now granted SpaceX access to its most precise data on potential collisions among satellites and other space objects, which will give Musk’s companies an advantage over competition that offers a similar service. SpaceX and the Space Force signed the new contract.
The commercial US space market is expected to grow to a value of nearly $2tn in value over the next decade, and the unprecedented access to military data appears to be another step toward Musk asserting monopoly control over commercial space activity more broadly, said Cole Donovan, a former Traccs employee now with the Stand Up for Science non-profit. SpaceX and Space Force did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian, but in a statement to Breaking Defense acknowledged the move. SpaceX has been expanding its power over launch and other space services, while growing closer links with the US government.
Multiple industry observers have said since the Trump administration took over that they fear a “vendor lock” scenario in which the government is overly reliant on SpaceX because it has such immense influence and is so technologically advanced. The first Trump administration established Traccs to take over commercial space traffic control from the defense department. But Traccs has never been fully funded or staffed, and has struggled to take root.
The latest move by the military comes at a crossroads for Traccs as the administration, Congress, and industry debate what to do next. The administration in fiscal year 2026 tried to largely defund the $65m program during the budgetary process, but Congress re-inserted the funding. The administration has again proposed slashing the budget to nearly zero in fiscal year 2027, but the House again reinserted the funding.
Several employees of commercial space companies have told the Guardian since early 2025 that there is wide support in the industry for Traccs because it would level the playing field. But the administration’s apparent move to privatize and consolidate power with a Trump ally is consistent with its broader approach to governance, Donovan said. However, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said SpaceX has largely been “remarkably responsive to space safety concerns” and they do not fault Starlink for stepping into a space that the government has failed to adequately address.
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