"Bottom line, somebody in the Trump administration is going to say 'we want NASA and the private sector to collectively, as sort of a national space enterprise, we want them to go further, we want them to go faster, we want them to go more frequently, and we want them to go less expensively," Muncy said.

Musk's newfound influence in the Trump world comes as regulators are grappling with the myriad of cutting-edge technologies his companies are developing.

SpaceX is on a trajectory to remain the most dominant player in space launches for years to come as it makes strides with its heavy-duty Starship rocket program.