Trump's space transportation policy calls for new spaceport on federal land
A new national space transportation policy signed by President Donald Trump on Thursday calls for the development of more spaceports to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries per year by 2030. The presidential memorandum replaces a 2013 policy signed by former President Barack Obama. Both policies share an emphasis on supporting the commercial space industry and underscore the importance of assured access to space. But the launch sector has changed immensely since then. There were 176 orbital launch attempts from US soil last year, nearly 10 times the number in 2013. SpaceX led the pack last year with 165 orbital launches of its Falcon 9 rocket, plus five suborbital test flights of the much larger Starship. "By 2030, our space transportation ranges must grow to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries every year," the policy says. "The policies set forth in this memorandum will secure America's continued superiority in space." Read full article Comments
A new national space transportation policy signed by President Donald Trump on Thursday calls for the development of more spaceports to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries per year by 2030.
“We probably need another site that’s capable of heavy and super heavy launch capability.”
The projected surge is driven by commercial and military demand for communications services, overhead surveillance, space-based targeting, and orbital data centers.
The most notable updates to the national space transportation policy focus on increasing the country’s ability to enable those lofty forecasts. The Trump administration calls on the Pentagon and NASA to “prioritize and coordinate on infrastructure investments” to boost launch and reentry capacity and flexibility at federal launch and reentry ranges.
