RENEWING AMERICAN SPACE TRANSPORTATION LEADERSHIP: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum to reinvigorate America’s leadership in space transportation and enable over 1,000 launches and reentries on American soil annually by 2030. The Memorandum repeals an outdated National Space Transportation Policy. It replaces that policy with one that delivers a comprehensive America First approach to assuring reliable, affordable, modernized access to space transportation services that promote a vibrant, competitive, and resilient U. S. space transportation industrial base.
The Memorandum directs agencies to incentivize co-development of space transportation infrastructure with private sector partners, expedite permitting and environmental reviews, develop fair and transparent cost recovery policies for common space services and infrastructure, and develop range scheduling criteria and publish range schedules to maximize allocation of launch resources. The Memorandum directs the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Secretary of War and the Administrator of NASA, to identify future additional space transportation infrastructure locations, including additional launch and reentry sites.
It also designates priority airspace for critical space launch corridors and integration of space transportation activities into air traffic control modernization efforts. The Memorandum directs the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST) to coordinate interagency efforts to develop and implement a space transportation industrial base strategy that promotes and maintains America’s space transportation industry, streamlines procurement, implements relevant space security strategies, and ensures an appropriate workforce to accomplish these goals. The Memorandum directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce to ensure U. S.
space transportation market access to promote and enable U. S. space transportation capabilities and standards. The Memorandum directs the Administrator of NASA to facilitate commercial transportation to and from the moon, to facilitate commercial robotic access to Mars, and to explore commercial avenues to send humans…