The Pentagon is working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to deliver packages anywhere on earth in under an hour

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

The new frontier for Elon Musk? Apparently, it’s the near-Earth orbit, with the U.S. military contracting SpaceX to deliver packages anywhere in the world within one hour. The Pentagon announced the new partnership on October 7, with an optimistic proof-of-concept mentioned as early as next year.

Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour. Think about that speed associated with the movement of transportation of cargo and people – U.S. Army General Stephen R. Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command

The U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is the engine that keeps the U.S. military humming along, providing logistics for everywhere on Earth that the military has operations. It moves troops, vehicles, and supplies, generally with C-17 transport planes. The problem is, they’re not making those planes anymore, but the military’s need for transport is increasing.

Enter private companies such as SpaceX to fill the void, by literally shooting supplies (and even troops!) across the world. The only reason this is possible is down to SpaceX having reusable rockets,  landing themselves, so they don’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. Not that the military is particularly cost-averse, just the optics of dropping parts of rockets onto citizens aren’t good ones. It’s not only rocket deliveries that SpaceX has signed on for; the military also is contracting them for four StarLink satellites that will become a new missile tracking defense.

Whew, that’s incredible. Anyone call for an airdrop?

Do you think SpaceX will be able to pull this off? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• SpaceX wants to launch four paying tourists into “super high orbit” by the end of 2021
• The SpaceX Starship looks like an old school, sci-fi rocket and I absolutely love it
• SpaceX’s first private passenger will be Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa
• SpaceX is sending someone around the moon, will announce via livestream on Monday

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.