SPACEX HANDED LOSS IN COURT CHALLENGE OVER CONTRACTS

A federal judge plans to deny Spacex’s challenge to U. S. air force contracts awarded to its rivals, writing in a Thursday court filing that the Pentagon properly assessed the development of Spacex CEO Elon Musk’s Starship rocket system as “too risky and expensive.” Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. in its lawsuit had accused the Air Force of unfairly awarding development contracts to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and other rivals for new rocket systems in 2018. But in a ruling that was briefly posted online, the judge found no wrongdoing by the Air Force in denying the company funds to help develop Starship, a reusable rocket system that Musk envisions will send satellites to orbit and ferry humans to the moon and Mars. The Air Force declined to comment. Spacex did not return requests for comment.