In Scott Manley's recent video Elon Musk Hates Flanges - Starship Update 2022 linked below, after 07:32:
Another thing that was left out of the presentation was... there was no mention in the main presentation of point-to-point transport, right? There's none of the stuff that would get the FAA a little concerned about flying people in ballistic missiles across the world, although it's worth noting that SpaceX has actually at this point got some funding to at least investigate this kind of thing for the (US) Department of Defense.
So it's interesting that they actually have money for this and this is the first presentation where he hasn't talked about it at all. He did talk about it in the Q&A later.
The Politics SE question Does the US Air Force "Rocket Cargo" project have any notable proponents in Congress? quotes a report that:
...The Air Force’s 2022 budget proposal requested almost $50 million for Rocket Cargo to continue the study concept work it began last year...
and the current answer currently indicates that funding for Rocket Cargo seems to have been preserved.
Question: Who all has funded "Rocket Cargo" type projects in the last few years (SpaceX or otherwise)? What's the current state of funding for this type of research and development?
I'm not asking what companies might be doing internally. Here I'm only asking about things like government and private equity investments.
Related:
