Narongsak Osatanakorn, the former governor of Chiang Rai and head of the rescue operation, acknowledged the technological development of Mr Musk’s creation but noted it was not suitable for the specific rescue operation.
Mr Osatanakorn said: “I assure you that the equipment he brought to help us is not practical for our mission.
“Even though the equipment has state of the art technology, it does not fit our mission in the cave.”
Mr Musk retorted sharply and said Mr Osatanakorn was not the “subject matter expert” and had been “inaccurately described as rescue chief”.
The billionaire had sent 10 engineers from his companies to Thailand to aid in the rescue operation and presented a specially designed “kid-size submarine” as a backup option for the Thai Navy Seals.
A representative from SpaceX said divers in Thailand had approved the design of the submarine, despite the fact it was eventually not used in the operation.
They said: “Multiple divers involved with the rescue said the mini-sub design was viable, and their feedback directly informed our engineering and testing.”
Mr Musk defended the design of the submarine and expressed his certainty that the model could complete the mission following rigorous testing.
He said: “Based on extensive cave video review and discussion with several divers who know the journey, SpaceX engineering is absolutely certain that the mini-sub can do the journey and demonstrate at any time.”
The billionaire also shared an email from Richard Stanton, one of the first British divers to reach the football team, who asked him to “keep working on the capsule details”.
However a spokesman for Mr Stanton stated on Tuesday that the tunnels within the Thai caves were too narrow for Mr Musk’s mini-submarine design.
Mr Musk nevertheless vowed to leave the submarine in Thailand in case it can be of use in the future.
Writing on Twitter, he said: “Just returned from cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed.
“It is made of rocket parts and name Wild Boar after the kids’ soccer team.
“Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future. Thailand is so beautiful.”
The billionaire also congratulated the “outstanding” rescue teams following the extraction of all the 13 individuals.