Elon Musk | Trillion | Dollar | Man
Elon Musk might be a trillionaire, but he has become a 'polarizing figure'. Image: YouTube / Social Media

Debt debris, the ‘Muskonomy’ and the Moon race

The US might still end up losing the Lunar dash to China, despite having the trillion-dollar man

ByChina Factor Staff

SpaceX and the American AI revolution will warp-drive the United States’ space program. But only if these sci-fi-inspired companies are not first sucked into a black hole of debt. Last Friday, Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX’s IPO eclipsed US$2 trillion.

The sky-high valuation was driven by one of the most controversial figures on the planet. His influence has become so “pervasive” that his network of businesses, including Tesla, the social media site X, and now SpaceX, is known as “Muskonomy.”

Yet trouble appears to be brewing in tech land. “The AI bubble will burst. History tells us what happens next,” Toby Walsh, of the University of New South Wales in Sydney and chief scientist of its AI Institute, wrote in a commentary for Forbes this week.

“Artificial intelligence may transform the economy over the long term, but investors betting on today’s AI boom should remember the lessons of railways, dotcoms, and every great technological mania before them,” he said, highlighting previous boom-bust-boom cycles.

To put it politely, [he is] a polarizing figure.

THE NEW WORLD

Final frontier:

  • Still, this comes at a time when the US and China are locked in a new dash to the Moon.
  • It will center on a battle of technologies, anchored in artificial intelligence.

Delve deeper: For SpaceX, the windfall has failed to hide the challenges facing its massive Starship rocket and its Human Landing System, according to Scientific American. The HLS is crucial to NASA’s mission to return astronauts to the Moon in 2028.

Between the lines: All the while, China’s state-funded program threatens to win Space Race 2.0. At least $72 billion was earmarked last year from its $246 billion defense budget.

Big picture: Then there is the Musk factor. “To put it politely, [he is] a polarizing figure. His open backing of far-right politicians across Europe and his [links to the] Trump administration have repelled many,” The New World media group pointed out this week.

China Factor comment: Where all this will leave SpaceX, the “Muskonomy,” and Musk himself might just lie on the dark side of the Moon.