The U.S. government plans to increase the number of commercial space launches and spacecraft reentries to about 1,000 a year by 2030. The idea is to expand a space transportation system led by private corporations to secure the lead in next-generation space development, including lunar and Mars exploration.
U.S. President Donald Trump on the 20th (local time) signed a "National Space Transportation Policy" memo that includes measures to boost the commercial space industry.
The policy directs government agencies to survey federal public lands and draw up related development plans to secure candidate sites for new reentry zones. It sets a 90-day deadline after the signing to identify candidate sites and a 240-day deadline to complete the development plans.
It also includes measures to support the activities of private space corporations, such as securing space for launch site infrastructure on federal public lands, improving regulatory procedures related to space launches, expediting environmental reviews, and securing frequencies.
Trump emphasized that, except for national security or public safety purposes, government agencies should reduce activities that compete with or restrict the private space transportation market.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was directed to work with commercial space companies to expand round-trip transportation to the moon and to review commercial options for robotic Mars exploration and for sending humans to Mars.
The U.S. commercial space market is already growing rapidly under the lead of private corporations. Of the 178 commercial space launches conducted in the United States last year, SpaceX handled 170. Centered on the Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX placed about 2,500 satellites into Earth orbit.