The space race is no longer confined to global powers like the US, Russia, and China. Private aerospace companies led by US billionaires are also entering the fray, competing for lucrative NASA contracts.
While Elon Musk’s SpaceX currently holds a dominant lead in rocket launches and satellite internet, Blue Origin led by Jeff Bezos is also positioning his companies to catch up.
Blue Origin is also developing its New Glenn rocket for commercial use and focusing heavily on NASA’s Artemis moon missions.
Rocket development: The race to stars
Undoubtedly, when it comes to rocket development, SpaceX is far ahead of Blue Origin. What makes Elon Musk’s aerospace company superior is its indisputable position in launch services using Falcon 9. The company uses a “fail fast” method to perfect its rocket.
On the other hand, Bezos’ approach is methodical, based on “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is designed to work perfectly from its first flights. In November, New Glenn rocket launch deployed two Mars-bound satellites for NASA.
Given its efficiency, the rocket is catching up with recent successful launches and orbital deliveries.
Artemis moon race
Both companies are also trying to win the lunar race. NASA has contracted both companies to develop lunar landers for the Artemis program. The US space agency is planning to put humans back on the moon by 2030.
Earlier, SpaceX was contracted to deliver the Starship Human Landing System to NASA. Unfortunately, owing to delays by Musk’s space company, NASA planned to invite other bidders.
Hence, Blue Origin was contracted later for providing landers. The company has paused its space tourism (New Shepard) to focus entirely on its lunar cargo and crew landers.
This year, Blue Origin has also planned to launch a cargo vehicle to the lunar surface. The launch will act as a precursor to designs, helping the company to eventually return astronauts to the moon.
SpaceX has similarly reallocated resources from Mars goals toward meeting NASA’s 2028 moon landing deadlines. It won the contract to build a Starship, capable of carrying 100 crew members and 200 tonnes of cargo.
NASA Artemis III mission will be based on low Earth-orbit testing of technology. However, NASA Artemis IV, planned for 2028, will be a moon-landing mission.
In mid-2027, NASA plans to test one or both of the companies’ landers. It remains to be seen which company’s lander will reach the moon first in this fierce space competition.
Space-based AI data centers
Both companies are also competing to put data centers in orbit to capitalize on solar power and handle AI computing.
In February, Elon Musk proclaimed the highly-anticipated SpaceX-xAI merger meant to form “the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet.”
SpaceX has also sought permission for up to 1 million data center satellites. Blue Origin has filed for nearly 52,000 satellites equipped with AI computing payloads.
