Elon Musk’s SpaceX is creating a network of “hundreds” of spy satellites for the US – as government officials criticize him for anti-woke social media posts.

SpaceX is building hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.

This latest venture illustrates that despite the highly critical language with which Musk attacks Biden and his administration, he is more than happy to do business with them.

The satellites are built by SpaceX’s Starshield division under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that runs the spy satellites.

The contract highlights the breadth of SpaceX’s reach into U.S. military and intelligence projects.

Musk and Biden have frequently clashed in the past, and both men have criticized each other for their leadership and opinions.

These satellites can operate in swarms in low orbits, tracking ground targets and sharing the data they collect with U.S. intelligence and military services.

They would give the government the ability to capture continuous images of activities on the ground almost anywhere in the world.

The spy satellite network represents one of the government’s most sought-after space capabilities because it is designed to provide the most persistent, ubiquitous and rapid coverage of activities on Earth.

“No one can hide,” said a person close to the program.

If the joint venture is successful, the program would significantly improve the government’s ability to spot potential targets almost anywhere in the world.

The Pentagon is already a big customer of SpaceX, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads into space. Starshield’s first satellite prototype, launched in 2020, was part of a separate roughly $200 million contract that helped position SpaceX for the subsequent $1.8 billion award, the company said. one of the sources.

The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide near-global internet to consumers, businesses and government agencies.

The Starshield network is part of the intensifying competition between the United States and its rivals to become the dominant military power in space, in part by extending spy satellite systems away from large, expensive spacecraft into orbits higher. Instead, a large network in low orbit can provide faster, near-constant imaging of Earth.

China is also planning to begin building its own satellite constellations, and the Pentagon has warned of space weapons threats from Russia, which could be capable of disabling entire satellite networks.

Starshield aims to be more resilient to attacks from sophisticated space powers.

The new spy network also aims to significantly expand the U.S. government’s remote sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with imaging sensors, as well as a larger number of relay satellites that transmit imaging data and other communications across the network using inter-laser satellites, two of the sources said.

The NRO includes personnel from the U.S. Space Force and the CIA and provides classified satellite imagery to the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies.

The contract signals growing intelligence confidence in a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the war in Ukraine.

On March 5, Musk claimed the border collapse was part of a Biden-led plan to import voters.

And he recently announced that he would not contribute any part of his $188.5 billion fortune to the candidacies of Biden or Trump.

The entrepreneur has also presented himself as a champion of anti-wokeness, and he frequently expresses his displeasure with Biden’s “woke” policies.

Biden has been less explicit in his criticism of Musk, but his attacks, while oblique, are nonetheless sharp.

The president has consistently snubbed Tesla when praising the efforts made by electric car makers.

During his State of the Union address two years ago, Biden praised Ford and GM’s work in electric vehicles, but failed to mention Tesla.

And in August 2021, Biden did not invite Musk to an electric vehicle summit at the White House, despite Musk being the CEO of the largest electric vehicle company in the United States.

Biden’s negligence resulted in the creation of a petition calling on the president to recognize Tesla and its status as a leading electric vehicle manufacturer. The petition was started by fans and has garnered nearly 40,000 signatures.

But the relationship between Musk and Biden remains fruitful, and this latest deal involves a sophisticated new spy system with hundreds of satellites with Earth-imaging capabilities.