The Space Grab The Biggest Extraction in Human History Is Happening Right Now THE ENDLESS FRONTIER: Public Money, Private Empires — Post 6

The Space Grab

The Biggest Extraction in Human History Is Happening Right Now

THE ENDLESS FRONTIER: Public Money, Private Empires — Post 6 | February 2026

THE ENDLESS FRONTIER: PUBLIC MONEY, PRIVATE EMPIRES
"Different Frontier. Same Extraction. Since 1850."

Post 1: The Pattern — 200 years, one mechanism
Post 2: The Railroad Theft — 175 million acres, the birth of extraction
Post 3: The Oil Extraction — The 1872 law still giving away public resources today
Post 4: The Internet Heist — DARPA built it, the CIA funded Google, $11 trillion captured
Post 5: The Defense Machine — The word Eisenhower removed, 70 years of cost-plus
Post 6: The Space Grab ← YOU ARE HERE
Post 7: The Same Players — How public wealth compounds into private dynasties
Post 8: What Breaks the Cycle — Three attempts, one possibility

In 2025, something happened that has never happened in 200 years of American frontier extraction. The primary beneficiary of public subsidy didn't just capture the regulator. He became the government. Elon Musk — whose companies have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits according to a Washington Post analysis — was appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In that role, he gained access to federal agency databases, spending records, and personnel decisions across the entire U.S. government. He used that access to cut federal contracts and programs — while his own companies continued receiving new ones. SpaceX received a new NASA contract the same week DOGE was cutting cancer research funding. Musk pushed NASA to redirect its focus to Mars — which SpaceX has contracts to pursue. Musk pushed the FCC to grant Starlink more spectrum — the FCC's new chairman, appointed by Trump, is a Musk ally. Musk pushed the Commerce Department to make Starlink eligible for $42 billion in rural broadband grants — the Commerce Secretary promised to do exactly that in his confirmation hearing. Unlike Cabinet secretaries, Musk was a senior government employee not required by law to publicly disclose and remedy conflicts of interest. The revolving door — documented in Post 5 as defense contractors sending former officials to the Pentagon and back — has been compressed to a single step. The contractor IS the government official. The man receiving the contracts IS the man influencing the agencies awarding them. This is not a new pattern. It is the final, perfected expression of 200 years of frontier extraction. Crédit Mobilier hired the same people to build the railroad who owned the railroad. Thomas Durant didn't just capture the regulator. He was the vice president of the entity issuing the contracts. What's new in 2025 is the scale — not of the contracts, but of the political power enabling them. And the frontier. Railroads took 10% of the United States. The internet captured $11 trillion in market value. Space is everything that remains.

The Foundation: $38 Billion and Counting

Before documenting what's happening now, establish the baseline.

The Washington Post conducted a comprehensive analysis of all public government payments to Musk's companies — contracts, grants, loans, subsidies, and tax credits. Their finding: at least $38 billion since 2003.

That's the floor. Not the ceiling. The Post explicitly noted: "The total amount is probably larger: This analysis includes only publicly available contracts, omitting classified defense and intelligence work."

The classified contracts include: a $1.8 billion NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) spy satellite contract reported by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, plus additional classified work whose value is unknown. The true total is almost certainly above $40 billion.

The escalation is steep:

• 2016+: SpaceX receives at least $1 billion per year in government contracts
• 2021-2024: Between $2 billion and $4 billion per year
• 2024 alone: At least $6.3 billion — the highest single year ever
• Two-thirds of the total $38 billion: Received in just the last five years

The acceleration is accelerating. And with Musk now influencing the agencies that award the contracts, the trajectory is clear.

THE MUSK PUBLIC SUBSIDY BASELINE (Washington Post Analysis)

TOTAL DOCUMENTED: $38 billion+ (2003-2025)
Source: Washington Post analysis of USAspending.gov, Federal Procurement Data System, Good Jobs First, SEC filings

BREAKDOWN:
• SpaceX contracts: $22.5 billion (USAspending.gov data alone)
• SpaceX active contracts: $22 billion (CEO Gwynne Shotwell, 2024)
• Tesla: EV credits, energy loans, state subsidies
• Starlink: NRO spy satellite contract ($1.8B, classified), Pentagon broadband deals
• Classified work: Additional unknown value (deliberately omitted from $38B total)

ESCALATION:
2016+: $1B+/year (every year)
2021-2024: $2-4B/year
2024: $6.3B (highest year ever, still climbing)
Two-thirds of total $38B: Received in LAST FIVE YEARS

KEY CONTRACTS:
NASA crew transport to ISS: $3B obligations (cap $14B, expires 2030)
ISS deorbit: $843M (SpaceX builds vehicle, destroys $150B public station)
Moon lander (Artemis): $2.89B initial + $1.15B modification = $4B+
NRO spy satellites (classified): $1.8B (reported by Reuters/WSJ)
Space Force launches 2024: $733M (Lane 1)
Space Force launches 2025: $845M (Lane 2, 7 contracts)
NASA telescopes/missions: Multiple $178M-$257M contracts

WHAT THIS BUILT:
SpaceX private valuation: $350B+
Starlink revenue 2024: $9.3B (Morgan Stanley estimate)
Ratio: Public investment → private empire (same as every frontier before)

The ISS Transaction: $150 Billion Public → $843 Million Private → Replace with Private

The International Space Station is the single most expensive structure humanity has ever built. The total cost: approximately $150 billion, funded by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

The U.S. share: approximately $100 billion. Funded by NASA over 30 years of construction and operation. Public money. International cooperation. A scientific platform in low Earth orbit representing the pinnacle of human space infrastructure investment.

In 2030, NASA will deorbit the ISS — deliberately crashing it into the ocean. The $150 billion station will be destroyed.

NASA awarded SpaceX the contract to build the deorbit vehicle: $843 million.

Public spent $150 billion building the station. Public pays SpaceX $843 million to destroy it.

What replaces it: Private space stations. NASA has awarded contracts to Axiom Space, Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos), and others to build commercial space stations. These will be privately owned. NASA will rent time on them — paying private companies for access to space infrastructure that the public previously owned outright.

The transaction sequence:

1. Public spends $150 billion building space station (1993-2024)
2. Public pays SpaceX $843 million to destroy it (2030)
3. Private companies build replacement stations (with public contracts as anchor tenants)
4. Public pays private companies to use the stations it no longer owns

The public goes from owning the asset outright to paying rent to private owners for access to what it replaced.

This is the railroad model. The public funded the infrastructure. Private companies took ownership. The public then paid the private owners for access — freight rates then, station rental fees now.

🔥 THE ISS TRANSACTION: THE RAILROAD MODEL IN ORBIT

THE ASSET:
International Space Station
Cost: ~$150 billion (U.S. share ~$100B)
Funded by: Public (NASA + international partners)
Ownership: Public/international
Scientific value: 30+ years of research, unique microgravity lab

THE DESTRUCTION:
2030: ISS deliberately deorbited (crashed into ocean)
Deorbit contract: $843 million to SpaceX
Public pays SpaceX to destroy the $150B asset it built

THE REPLACEMENT:
Private space stations (Axiom Space, Blue Origin, others)
Ownership: Private companies
NASA role: Anchor tenant (pays rent to use private stations)
Public goes from: OWNS station → RENTS access from private owners

THE RAILROAD PARALLEL (EXACT):
Railroads: Public funded infrastructure (land grants, bond guarantees)
Result: Private companies owned rails, public paid freight rates

ISS: Public funded infrastructure ($150B)
Result: Private companies own replacement, public pays station rental fees

ONE DIFFERENCE:
Railroads: Public gave away land, private built infrastructure
ISS: Public built AND paid for infrastructure, then destroyed it
and paid private companies to build replacement they’ll own

The ISS transaction is MORE extractive than the railroad model.
Public built it. Public destroyed it. Public now rents from private owners.

Starlink: Capturing the Orbital Commons

The orbital slots around Earth — positions in low Earth orbit where satellites can be placed — are a public commons. They are managed internationally by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and domestically by the FCC. No single company owns orbital positions. They are allocated, not sold.

Starlink has 7,700+ satellites in orbit as of mid-2025. It has reservations for tens of thousands more.

This is the orbital equivalent of railroad monopoly corridors. Vanderbilt controlled the only practical rail route between New York and Chicago. Starlink is positioning to control the dominant satellite communications infrastructure in low Earth orbit. Orbital positions are finite. The best low Earth orbit slots are limited. Starlink's first-mover advantage — enabled by public contracts and public spectrum — is becoming a permanent structural monopoly.

The spectrum capture is even more direct. Radio spectrum — the frequencies that satellites use to communicate with Earth — is a public resource managed by the FCC. Private companies must apply for spectrum allocations. They don't own them.

In 2023, the FCC denied Starlink nearly $1 billion in rural broadband grants, saying the service didn't meet technical requirements.

In 2025, Trump replaced the FCC chairman with Brendan Carr — described by the Mercury News as "supportive of Musk." Within months: the FCC approved SpaceX's request to boost power on Starlink satellites (over objections from Verizon and AT&T). The FCC is expected to reverse the broadband grant denial.

And the Commerce Department — now headed by Howard Lutnick, who promised in his confirmation hearing to make Starlink eligible for broadband funds — opened the $42 billion rural broadband program to Starlink applications.

The sequence: Musk donates $300 million to Trump's 2024 campaign. Trump wins. FCC chairman replaced with Musk ally. Commerce Secretary promises Starlink access to $42 billion program. Musk appointed DOGE head. Starlink gets spectrum approval. Starlink eligible for $42 billion.

"The odds of Elon getting whatever Elon wants are much higher today," said Blair Levin, a former FCC official turned market analyst, quoted in the Mercury News.

STARLINK: CAPTURING THE ORBITAL COMMONS

THE PUBLIC RESOURCE:
Orbital slots: Public commons (ITU/FCC managed, not owned)
Radio spectrum: Public resource (FCC allocated, not sold)
First-mover advantage: Whoever gets there first controls the position

STARLINK’S POSITION (2025):
Satellites in orbit: 7,700+ (as of June 2025)
Orbital positions reserved: Tens of thousands more
Governments using Starlink: 100+ countries
U.S. government Starlink uses: Pentagon, Space Force, FAA, White House

THE SPECTRUM CAPTURE:
2023: FCC denies Starlink ~$1B broadband grants (technical requirements not met)
2024: Musk donates $300M to Trump campaign
2025: Trump replaces FCC chairman with Brendan Carr (Musk ally)
2025: FCC approves Starlink satellite power boost (Verizon, AT&T object)
2025: FCC expected to reverse broadband grant denial
2025: Commerce Dept opens $42B broadband program to Starlink

FORMER FCC OFFICIAL (Blair Levin, to Mercury News):
“The odds of Elon getting whatever Elon wants are much higher today”

POTENTIAL NEW REVENUE (analysts):
Each spectrum/broadband victory: “Could be huge — in the tens of billions”
$42B broadband program: Starlink eligible (partially or fully)

THE RAILROAD PARALLEL:
Vanderbilt: Controlled only practical route, charged monopoly freight rates
Starlink: Controlling dominant orbital positions, charging subscription + government fees
Same structure. Orbital frontier. 160 years later.

The 2015 Space Act: The 1872 Mining Act for Asteroids

In 2015, Congress passed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. Buried in it: a provision giving private companies ownership of resources they extract from asteroids, the Moon, and other celestial bodies.

No royalties to the public. No environmental requirements. No benefit sharing. Private ownership of resources extracted from the solar system's commons.

This is the General Mining Act of 1872 applied to space. The same structure. The same zero-royalty principle. The same public resource → private ownership transfer. Applied to resources worth not billions but — conservatively — quadrillions of dollars.

A single metallic asteroid can contain more iron, nickel, and precious metals than humanity has ever mined in all of human history. The asteroid 16 Psyche — a target of current NASA study — is estimated to contain iron and nickel worth $10 quintillion (that's $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 — ten thousand quadrillion dollars).

The 2015 Space Act gave private companies the right to own what they extract from these bodies.

Congress passed this law with minimal public debate. No royalty structure was considered. No public benefit sharing was proposed. The same Congress that has failed to reform the 1872 Mining Act for 37 years passed the Space Mining Act in 2015 without the public understanding what it was giving away.

The railroad land grants of 1862 gave away 175 million acres — 10% of the United States.

The 2015 Space Act gave away the solar system.

🔥 THE 2015 SPACE ACT: THE 1872 MINING ACT FOR THE SOLAR SYSTEM

GENERAL MINING ACT 1872:
• Public resource: Minerals in federal land (United States)
• Private right: Extract and own minerals
• Royalty to public: Zero
• Scale: $300B+ extracted over 153 years
• Still in effect: Yes (Congress can’t reform it after 37 years of trying)

U.S. COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH COMPETITIVENESS ACT 2015:
• Public resource: Minerals in asteroids, Moon, celestial bodies (solar system)
• Private right: Extract and own resources
• Royalty to public: Zero
• Scale: Quadrillions of dollars in potential resources
• Public debate before passage: Minimal

ASTEROID 16 PSYCHE (one of many):
Estimated mineral content: $10 quintillion
($10,000,000,000,000,000,000)
Private ownership of extracted resources: Granted by 2015 law
Public compensation for this gift: Zero

THE PATTERN IS IDENTICAL:
1872: Mining companies extract public minerals, keep all value
2015: Space companies extract solar system minerals, keep all value

SCALE DIFFERENCE:
1872 Mining Act total extraction: $300B (153 years)
Solar system minerals: $10 quintillion+ (one asteroid alone)

They didn’t need a new model for space resource extraction.
They copied 1872 and applied it to the solar system.
The public barely noticed.

DOGE: When the Contractor Becomes the Government

Every frontier in this series has featured regulatory capture — the process by which private interests gain control of the public agencies that are supposed to regulate them.

Railroads captured the Interstate Commerce Commission. Standard Oil captured state legislatures. Defense contractors captured Pentagon procurement through the revolving door. Silicon Valley captured the FCC and FTC through lobbying. These were all versions of the same mechanism: private interests gaining influence over public regulators.

In 2025, something different happened. The primary beneficiary of public contracts didn't just capture the regulator. He became an arm of the government itself.

Musk was appointed to lead DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — in early 2025. In this role, he and his team gained access to:

• Federal agency databases and spending records
• Personnel decisions (pushing out 100,000+ federal workers)
• Contract review authority (canceling some contracts while others continued)
• Agency policy influence (pushing NASA toward Mars, pushing FCC on spectrum)

The documented conflicts, as reported by Scripps News and the Project on Government Oversight:

• SpaceX received a new $38.85 million NASA contract while DOGE was cutting cancer research funding
• Musk "nudged" NASA to redirect focus to Mars — where SpaceX has contracts to pursue the first human missions
• Starlink became eligible for $42 billion in broadband grants after Musk's involvement in Commerce Department policy
• FAA is exploring making a Starlink deal for air traffic control modernization
• The White House installed Starlink dishes for federal internet access

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, stated directly: "He stands to make billions of dollars for his company from those very agencies and departments that he is wielding such power over. These are massive contracts and massive conflicts of interest."

The legal framework: Unlike Cabinet secretaries, Musk was a senior government employee — not required by law to publicly disclose and remedy conflicts of interest. The conflict of interest laws that would apply to a confirmed Cabinet secretary did not apply to Musk in his DOGE role.

This is the Crédit Mobilier model compressed to one person. Thomas Durant was the vice president of Union Pacific (the public-facing entity) AND the owner of Crédit Mobilier (the private extraction vehicle). He hired himself. He paid himself with public money. Musk is influencing the agencies that award contracts to his own companies — and is not legally required to disclose the conflict.

DOGE: THE CRÉDIT MOBILIER MODEL COMPRESSED TO ONE PERSON

CRÉDIT MOBILIER (1864):
Thomas Durant: VP of Union Pacific (public entity) + Owner of Crédit Mobilier (private vehicle)
Action: Hired himself to build the railroad
Result: Paid himself with public money, inflated costs, 805% dividends
Legal status: Technically legal until exposed

DOGE (2025):
Elon Musk: DOGE head (senior government employee) + Owner of SpaceX/Starlink/Tesla (private entities)
Action: Influences agencies that award contracts to his companies
Result: SpaceX contracts continue/grow while other budgets cut
Legal status: Not required to disclose conflicts of interest

DOCUMENTED ACTIONS (Scripps News, Mercury News, POGO):
• SpaceX receives NASA contract same week DOGE cuts cancer research
• Musk “nudges” NASA toward Mars (SpaceX has Mars contracts)
• Starlink eligible for $42B broadband (after Musk influence on Commerce)
• FCC chairman replaced with Musk ally → spectrum approvals follow
• FAA exploring Starlink deal for air traffic control
• White House installs Starlink dishes

PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT (Danielle Brian):
“He stands to make billions of dollars for his company from those very
agencies and departments that he is wielding such power over.
These are massive contracts and massive conflicts of interest.”

LEGAL PROTECTION (Unlike Cabinet secretaries):
“Musk is a senior government employee and not required by law to
publicly disclose and remedy conflicts of interest.”
— Scripps News

This is not regulatory capture. This is the contractor running the government.

The Full Space Extraction Picture

Pull back and see the complete picture of what's being extracted:

60 years of NASA investment (~$700 billion, inflation-adjusted): The foundational space research, rocket technology, materials science, and engineering that made commercial space possible. SpaceX built on this foundation.

$38 billion in direct public contracts (documented): The specific contracts, grants, and subsidies that funded SpaceX's development. First contract: $278 million from NASA in 2006 — before SpaceX successfully launched a rocket.

The ISS ($150 billion): Built, operated, and now being destroyed — at public expense — to be replaced by privately-owned stations the public will rent.

Orbital slots (public commons): Starlink reserves thousands of low Earth orbit positions — finite public resources — giving it structural monopoly over satellite communications.

Radio spectrum (public resource): FCC allocations giving Starlink expanded spectrum access — worth "tens of billions" according to analysts — delivered by a chairman appointed by the president whose campaign Musk funded.

$42 billion rural broadband program: Public funds designated for internet access — now available to Starlink after policy change by a Commerce Secretary who promised this in his confirmation hearing.

Asteroid mining rights (2015 Space Act): Zero-royalty ownership of resources extracted from solar system bodies — worth quadrillions — given away with minimal public debate.

Mars missions: SpaceX is the designated vehicle for human missions to Mars. If SpaceX delivers humans to Mars and establishes a permanent presence, it controls the first foothold on an entirely new planet.

The railroads took 10% of the United States. Silicon Valley took the internet ($11 trillion). The space grab is taking:

• The orbital infrastructure around Earth
• The communications spectrum that global connectivity depends on
• The minerals of the entire solar system
• The pathway to other planets

There is no next frontier after space. This is the last one. And the extraction is the largest in human history by orders of magnitude.

THE COMPLETE SPACE EXTRACTION LEDGER

PUBLIC INVESTMENT (What taxpayers gave):
NASA history (1958-present): ~$700B (inflation-adjusted)
Direct SpaceX/Musk subsidies: $38B+ documented
ISS construction/operation: ~$150B
ISS deorbit contract: $843M (pay SpaceX to destroy what public built)
Rural broadband program: $42B (Starlink now eligible)
Military classified work: Unknown (billions+)
TOTAL PUBLIC: $900B+ documented, probably $1T+

PRIVATE CAPTURE (What SpaceX/Musk got):
SpaceX valuation: $350B+ (private company, built on public foundation)
Starlink revenue 2024: $9.3B/year (Morgan Stanley)
Orbital positions: Thousands in low Earth orbit (finite public commons)
Spectrum: Expanded FCC allocations (worth “tens of billions”)
ISS replacement: Private stations, public pays rent
Asteroid mining rights: Quadrillions in potential value (2015 Space Act)
Mars pathway: First-mover control of human Mars missions

WHAT’S COMING:
Lunar resources: Water (rocket fuel), helium-3, rare earths
Mars: Entire planet (private foothold → private control of settlement)
Orbital monopoly: Whoever controls low Earth orbit controls global communications
Asteroid belt: More mineral wealth than all of human history combined

THE SCALE COMPARISON:
Railroad land grants (1862): 175M acres (10% of U.S.)
Internet capture (1995-2024): $11T in private market value
Space grab (2003-?): The solar system

Different frontier. Same extraction. Infinite scale.

Why This Is the Last Frontier

Every previous frontier had a limit:

• Railroads: Eventually ran out of continent to cross
• Oil: Finite resource, eventually depletes
• Defense: Limited by GDP and political will
• Internet: Finite addressable market (Earth's population)

Space has no limit. The solar system contains more resources than humanity could ever exhaust. The universe beyond offers more still. There is no ceiling on what can be extracted if private ownership of space resources is established now.

This is why the current moment is so critical. The legal and regulatory frameworks being established now — who owns orbital slots, who owns asteroid minerals, who controls communications infrastructure, who has the pathway to Mars — will define the structure of space development for centuries.

The 1862 railroad land grants locked in private control of 10% of the United States for generations. The decisions being made right now about space ownership are locking in private control of the solar system — for generations, perhaps forever.

And unlike railroads (which eventually became regulated public utilities), unlike oil (which faces depletion), unlike the internet (which could theoretically be re-regulated), space is being privatized before most people understand what's being given away.

The public that watched 175 million acres of land grants pass Congress in the 1860s didn't fully understand what was happening. The public that watched the internet privatize in 1995 didn't fully understand what was happening. The public watching space privatization happen right now mostly doesn't understand what is happening.

That's what this series is for.

In Post 7, we follow the money from Vanderbilt's railroad fortune in 1870 to Musk's space empire in 2025 — documenting the specific financial connections between every frontier and showing how the same accumulated capital has funded each successive extraction cycle for 160 years.

METHODOLOGY: HUMAN-AI COLLABORATION

KEY SOURCES FOR THIS POST:
SpaceX contracts: Washington Post interactive analysis (February 2025), Built In article (comprehensive contract list), Newsweek contract list (updated June 2025), Fox Business (government funding summary), USAspending.gov (underlying data). DOGE conflicts: Scripps News “Truth Be Told” investigation (March 2025), Mercury News/New York Times analysis (March 2025), Nation of Change (POGO quotes, February 2025), Benton Institute for Broadband & Society (broadband analysis). ISS deorbit: NASA press releases, Built In article. Spectrum capture: Mercury News (Brendan Carr appointment and spectrum approvals), Benton Institute analysis. 2015 Space Act: Congressional record, subsequent legal analysis.

ON THE DOGE CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
The Scripps News investigation explicitly reported that “Musk is a senior government employee and not required by law to publicly disclose and remedy conflicts of interest.” This is a documented legal fact about his status, not an editorial conclusion. The specific contracts awarded to SpaceX while Musk headed DOGE are documented in public contracting databases. The connection between his government role and contract awards is drawn by POGO, former government officials, and members of Congress — not only by us.

WHAT COMES NEXT:
Post 7 (The Same Players) documents the financial genealogy of extraction wealth — the specific connections between Vanderbilt’s railroad fortune, Carnegie’s steel empire, the defense contractor fortunes of WWII, the venture capital funds of Silicon Valley, and the space investments of today. The “same players” aren’t always the same individuals — but the wealth is the same wealth, compounding across generations and frontiers.