If the flotation proceeds as planned, it would sit just below Saudi Aramco's record-setting $1.7 trillion IPO in 2019. Musk, 54, founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of revolutionising space travel by slashing launch costs and making human missions to Mars viable. Over the past two decades, the company has reshaped the global launch market, fielding its reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and becoming the partner of choice for governments, satellite operators and private clients.
Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine was supposed to be a short campaign, but the larger country's swift victory anticipated by many analysts failed to materialize. Part of the reason for Ukraine's effective defense was Kyiv's early warning of the build-up of Russian forces on its border. U.S./allied intelligence warned Kyiv, but another non-government source tipped them off to the impending invasion: commercial imagery, especially Maxar's optical photos, publicly documented the build-up and the initial invasion, revealing the long convoy heading toward Kyiv on Feb. 27, 2022.
"Inefficient permitting processes discourage investment and innovation, limiting the ability of U.S. companies to lead in global space markets," he stated in an Executive Order signed August 13.
