Shotwell also addressed the challenges SpaceX has faced with the Federal Aviation Administration—Musk has been highly critical of the federal agency that regulates launch licenses in the United States.
She noted that the current regulations were written, and the FAA’s commercial space office was staffed, to regulate companies that launch 10 or 12 times a year. Before the ascent of SpaceX, this was the norm in the US industry. But last year, SpaceX launched 96 times, and this year, it will exceed 130 even as it pushes to launch the experimental Starship system more frequently.
“We never complain about regulation,” Shotwell said. “It’s not that there is regulation. It’s that regulation in the US—maybe globally, maybe not China—but maybe everywhere else is slowing technology down. It’s not helping, it’s slowing. All we ask is regulate industries, make them safe, make them right, make them fair, but you’ve got to go faster. Much faster.”
Do you fear nationalization?
Shotwell also did not sound concerned about the prospect of nationalization. Some critics of Musk have called for nationalization due to his entanglement with the US government and international affairs.
“As far as nationalization goes, we work for the government in so many ways,” Shotwell said, citing contracts with the US Department of Defense and NASA. “If we are in a conflict and the government needs Starlink, more capacity, we are not going to say, ‘No, we’d rather have the country get overrun. Nah, we want to keep our customer base.’ Like, it’s just not going to happen. If the government needs it, the government will get what they need. Just like always, for us, despite news reports.”
During her remarks, Shotwell also opined on other subjects, including competitors in launch and satellite broadband. She believes it will be more difficult for competitors to catch up in launch than in low-Earth orbit Internet. “It will be hard to catch us on launch,” she said. “I think launch is harder than satellites. It’s going to be hard to catch us, but I certainly hope people try.”
