Elon Musk, SpaceX pave way for space company to mass-produce tiny rockets

Jim Cantrell, who founded SpaceX with Elon Musk, wants to create rockets at the same speed the auto industry turns out cars.

“I want to transform the space economy like elevators did to the New York skyline,” Cantrall told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.” “So we are going to build rockets at a rate that we can actually make them reliable and the only way to do that is to emulate the automotive industry.”

Cantrell, who currently serves as the CEO of private spaceflight startup Vector, said he is focused on producing microsatellites, ranging in size from a loaf of bread to a printer, to transform the space travel industry.

He said less government control has allowed entrepreneurs like Musk to lower costs and allow the private sector to innovate.

“Elon and SpaceX have lowered the cost of building these rockets by at least 50 times what the government’s done,” he added.

But unlike Musk, who is focused on travel to Mars and building rockets, Cantrell’s motivation is big business.

“Morgan Stanley predicts this is a trillion dollar economy in about 10 years so I think we will be close to that in five -- it’s growing exponentially underneath everybody’s nose.”