Elon Musk slams Jeff Bezos; says filing lawsuits against SpaceX is his 'full time job'

Tech billionaire and space aficionado Elon Musk, on Thursday, took a dig at Jeff Bezos saying that filing lawsuits against SpaceX were the Amazon founder’s “full-time job”. Musk’s statement came while replying to a post about SpaceX’s Starlink Project. Notably, Bezos had, earlier this week, asked the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to dismiss SpaceX’s plans to launch more Starlink satellites. 

Lunar Lander dispute  

In April, NASA presented SpaceX with a $$2.89 billion contract to build a spacecraft that would carry astronauts to the moon as early as 2024. But just a month later, the contract was suspended after Bezos led-Blue Origins filed  protests with the US government Accountability Office (GAO). Bezos blatantly complained that the bid was “unfair” and that Musk was given a chance to revise his bid but he wasn’t. Now, both Musk and Bezos are vying with each other to win the prestigious contract. 

Later, Musk hit out at Jeff Bezos, accusing him of lobbying. Elon Musk had said the former Amazon CEO would be on Pluto by no if lobbying and lawyers could get you to orbit. While replying to a tweet, Elon Musk wrote, "If lobbying & lawyers could get u to orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto right now". He even responded to a meme that claimed that the former Amazon CEO copied SpaceX with its Project Jarvis vertical landing spacecraft. In another snide dig, Musk stated that Blue Origin "Can’t get it up (to orbit)" over the firm filing a protest against NASA.  

Starlink mission

In its plan to create a 12,000-satellite mega constellation in the Low Earth Orbit, SpaceX has launched 480 Starlink satellites into orbit, including the recent 58 satellites launched by Musk. The main aim of this project is to provide high-speed internet service to customers around the world, especially in remote or under-served areas. The internet speed is expected and propelled to be 1GB/sec. However, SpaceX's internet access will first be presented in only two countries, the USA and Canada.

These new satellites launched by the American company are equipped with a new deployable sun visor system which is created to block reflections of sunlight from their antenna surfaces. This is the reason why they are denoted as "Astronomy-friendly satellites".

Image: AP