On Sat, 19 May 2018 18:58:48 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote:

SpaceX is about engineering, not science. There is a lot of
fundamental new aeronautical science involved in designing any
lift-based aircraft that operates in an atmosphere 1/60 as dense as
Earth's. That's the sort of expertise NASA has, and conventional
makers of aircraft or drones do not. We do not generally contract out
fundamental scientific development.

What is so fundamental about it? Planes fly high enough so atmosphere is thin and have done so for decades.

Planes at that altitude (100,000 feet) are rare, experimental, and
rocket powered. No helicopter has ever come close to that.