SpaceX Will Protest "Monopoly" on U.S. Government Military Satellite Launches

SpaceX is the private space corporation that signed a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to conduct cargo resupply missions for the International Space Station. Their CEO and founder, Elon Musk, discussed some grievances of his in a press conference on Friday.

Musk plans to file an official protest against the U.S. Air Force for the "monopoly" joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin over the right to perform national security-related launches. Their partnership, the United Launch Alliance (ULA), has been around since 2006 ever since the two companies signed a contract to conduct 36 launches.

Musk has two problems with both the Air Force and the ULA: the Air Force's contract with the ULA monopolizes national security launches for which his company can't compete, and the ULA uses the Atlas V rocket, which contains a Russian-made engine.

"This seems like the wrong time to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the Kremlin," said Musk in the press conference via this Fox News article. He also added that the use of Russian equipment might violate the sanctions the U.S. recently imposed on Russia.

Musk reiterated that SpaceX launches are cheaper than those of the ULA and American taxpayers would save $1 billion if the launches were awarded to his company. But Musk is a competitive man - he by no means wants the launch contract handed to him - he simply wants to opportunity to compete for the contract.

"If we compete and lose, that's fine. But why are they not being competed?" he said via this Forbes.com article.

The SpaceX CEO believes that his company's credentials are strong enough to at least compete. They've launched three successful resupply cargo missions to the International Space Station since 2012 and have nine more to go by 2016. With Musk's bold callout of the Air Force and two aerospace giants, responses are likely to come soon.

You can read more about Elon Musk and SpaceX in this NPR article.