Doge Job Cuts At NOAA: Are They Part Of Elon Musk’s Plan To Control Space?

Some former workers at the National Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are drawing attention to the possibility of Doge job cuts benefiting Elon Musk’s firms. They argue that by freeing up satellite operations under the control of the NOAA, Elon Musk is making space for his space firms to access more contracts.

Are Doge Job Cuts Opening Contract Opportunities For Elon Musk’s Space Firms?

Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, was established following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. Over the past few months, this new governmental office has conducted some job cuts affecting the US government’s space industry.

By cutting jobs from various governmental space agencies, Doge aims to curtail federal spending on space affairs. One of the governmental agencies feeling the heat of this job-cut exercise is the NOAA. And some of the affected workers with this agency are now crying out to the public.

From their point of view, this effort to curtail government space spending is only clearing the way for Elon Musk’s space firms to receive government funding. According to these ex-NOAA employees, Doge, run by Elon Musk, has access to confidential information on top competitors in the space industry.

With access to this confidential information on his competitors, Elon Musk will be able to steer the US space industry in favour of SpaceX and Starlink. This is a serious issue, as the monopolization of the US space industry will be damaging to the region’s competition in the global space industry.

NOAA currently handles the operations of various satellite operations in space. These operations include space traffic control, weather forecasting, and radio frequency management. All of these are beneficial to both SpaceX and Starlink operations.

While many everyday economic activities rely on NOAA’s operations, Elon Musk has already laid off over 1300 employees from the administration. This, in turn, might be part of an effort to privatize NOAA’s operations, potentially shifting some of its responsibilities to Musk’s space firms.

A Growing Need For Checks And Balances In The Current Doge Job Cuts

Elon Musk’s space firms, SpaceX and Starlink, are already top players in their various fields. This new concern raised by ex-NOAA employees affected by the recent Doge job cuts might be signs of monopolization of the US space industry.

There needs to be some checks and balances in Doge’s operations to keep Elon Musk from grabbing control of the US space industry. Already there are requests by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) for close communication between the NOAA and Doge for various space operations.

Tim Whitehouse, the executive director of Peer, says that the recent moves by Elon Musk are “driven by greed and corruption.” There should be some necessary checks and balances on Elon Musk’s operations, with Doge preventing him from giving his space firms an unfair advantage over the competition.