Elite is very much trying to be SC.
Back in the day when Elite was just getting crowdfunded, Chris Roberts said he didn't mind supporting the project as the two games are very different.
After that, Elite has been steadily announcing exact same features as SC.
I think SC is going about it way better, though, they're building shit from the ground up, instead of doing the Elite thing of quickly patching together a boring universe and some basic flight mechanics and then releasing it.
PS Siiem do you want to cyber with me in the social module?