SPACE FORCE ON STEROIDS: Trump Orders 1,000 Launches a Year, Dumps Obama-Era Rules in New American Space Blitz

President Donald Trump launched an aggressive new push Thursday to cement American dominance in space, ordering the federal government to prepare for more than 1,000 launches and reentries per year by 2030 while unleashing private industry, expanding launch infrastructure and plotting commercial transportation to the Moon and Mars.

Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum declaring access to space a vital national and economic security interest and replacing a national space transportation policy dating back to the Obama administration. The new doctrine directs federal agencies to expand launch capacity, accelerate permitting, open government facilities to commercial users and build a stronger domestic space transportation industrial base.

Translation: America is done treating the final frontier like another federally regulated cul-de-sac.

The policy instructs NASA to develop a commercial logistics architecture capable of moving cargo to and from the lunar surface, explore private robotic missions to Mars and examine commercial systems capable of transporting humans to Mars and returning them safely. The Pentagon is also ordered to develop rapid and resilient launch capabilities, including the ability to respond to high-priority national security needs within 48 hours.

Trump is also putting an unmistakable “Made in America” stamp on the space race. Federal payloads will generally be required to fly aboard vehicles manufactured in the United States, while agencies are directed to favor commercial space services, strengthen domestic supply chains and ensure multiple American options exist for launching critical government equipment.

It is capitalism with rocket fuel.

Rather than asking Washington bureaucrats to become the next Elon Musk, the administration is telling government to clear the launchpad. Agencies must pursue public-private infrastructure partnerships, expedite environmental reviews, improve scheduling at federal launch ranges and search for additional launch and reentry sites. The administration says the resulting competition could lower costs, expand American aerospace manufacturing and make the United States harder for China or any other adversary to challenge in orbit.

The memorandum formally scraps the 2013 National Space Transportation Policy issued during the Obama administration. Trump’s replacement does not merely contemplate occasional NASA missions. It envisions a massive American space economy reaching from suborbital flight and low Earth orbit to the Moon, Lagrange points and deep space, with commercial companies carrying an increasing share of the load.

For Nevada, the timing could hardly be better.

The Silver State’s aerospace and defense sector has exploded over the past decade. Nevada now supports roughly 22,304 aerospace and defense jobs, up 56.3 percent since 2016, compared with 25.9 percent nationally, according to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The Las Vegas metro alone accounts for more than 14,000 of those jobs, while average earnings in the statewide sector top $130,000.

That is the kind of economic diversification Nevada politicians have spent years promising: high-paying technical jobs that do not depend on another casino tower, another government program or another taxpayer-funded consultant explaining why nothing can be built.

Trump’s latest directive aims to put American workers, American companies and American hardware at the center of the next space race. His first administration created the Space Force. His second is now trying to build the highways, factories and commercial market that could determine who controls the heavens for generations.

China is not waiting. Neither is Trump.

The new message from Washington is considerably simpler than the bureaucratic space policy it replaces: build it here, launch it here, dominate up there.

Speak Up, Nevada! What’s on Your Mind? Send us your opinion!

Got the inside scoop on something happening in Nevada? Or the country? Do you have thoughts about life in Nevada that are too good to keep to yourself? Whether it’s a hot take on our politics, crime, education, or even the secret to surviving our summers, we’re all ears! Swing them our way at editor@thenevadaglobe.com. Come on, give us the scoop on what makes Nevada tick—or what ticks you off. Let’s make some noise and have some fun with it!