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Paper short abstract

At SpaceX, the vertical layering of social media, Gen AI, launch capabilities, Starlink, and space-based data centres, is critical to how Elon Musk is exercising political and economic power. I consider the futures both on Earth and above-Earth this ‘stacking’ enables, constrains or produces.

Paper long abstract

For years, Elon Musk presented his entrepreneurial projects in space technologies through his vision of establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars, offering this prospect both as an exciting adventure for humanity and a hedge against future global threats. However, in that time, his company, SpaceX, has developed the world’s largest network of megaconstellation satellites called Starlink. Initially framed as simply a means to fund the ultimate Mars vision, this has enabled Musk to gain political status and standing and to advance his economic interests. Given these developments, my paper builds on scholarship that is engaging critically with Low Earth Orbit as a key site for examining the technopolitics of New Space and on the power of ‘tech oligarchs’ (Cohen 2025). In doing so, I extend arguments to consider the importance of vertical integration or ‘stacking’ (after Bratton 2016). At SpaceX, the vertical layering of digital platforms and other material assets such as generative AI, orbital launch, Starlink, and potentially space-based data centres, warrants close analysis as it is critical to how tech oligarchs such as Elon Musk are exercising political and economic power with global implications. I explore this development and consider what kinds of futures both on Earth and above-Earth this ‘stacking’ enables, constrains or otherwise produces with unintended consequences. I conclude by reflecting on the value of this type of analysis and how it relates to other ongoing work in the social studies of outer space that is also concerned with mapping relations between orbital and Earthly spaces.