Trump Unveils Lunar, Mars Roadmap In 'American Space Superiority' Executive Order

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order outlining the U.S.'s Lunar and Mars ambitions.

Trump Signs Order To Return Americans To The Moon

In an executive order titled ‘Ensuring American Space Superiority' on Thursday, Trump outlined that he intends to return "Americans to the Moon by 2028 through the Artemis Program," and prepare for further space exploratory missions to Mars.

SpaceX recently outlined its capabilities to collaborate with NASA in its mission to reach the Moon and Mars. SpaceX and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk also touted SpaceX and its rocket Starship as the ideal vehicle to land humans on Mars.

Nuclear Reactors On The Moon

Trump also highlighted deploying Nuclear reactors to be launched, as well as an outpost on the Lunar surface by 2030. It's worth noting that Musk, who is back in Trump's inner circle, has criticized the push towards Nuclear energy, touting solar power as the ideal source. He reiterated the Sun as an "enormous, free fusion reactor in the sky."

Trump also intends to attract over "$50 billion of additional investment in American space markets by 2028," and has targeted increased launch and reentry cadence "through new and upgraded facilities."

The order also shared that Trump would open doors to private players to replace the International Space Station by 2030. Trump also reiterated his ambitions for the Golden Dome defense system, promising demonstrations of the prototypes by 2028.

Jared Isaacman Confirmed As NASA Chief

On Wednesday, NASA also confirmed the appointment of Musk's close ally, Jared Isaacman, who is also the CEO of Shift4 Payments Inc. (NASDAQ:FOUR). Isaacman outlined his goal of returning Americans to the Lunar surface, as well as delivering on Trump's "vision of planting the Stars and Stripes on Mars."

Isaacman’s nomination was earlier withdrawn by Trump, who cited his previous political associations as tensions rose between the President and Musk. However, Trump had then reinstated Isaacman’s nomination last month, hailing him as an “accomplished business leader.”

SpaceX's Orbital Datacenter Push

The news comes amid Musk and SpaceX's push for putting solar-powered AI data center satellites in orbit, which the billionaire believes is a more cost-effective solution compared to ground-based data centers on Earth.

Musk's ambitions have been backed by others, including Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, who also outlined the ambition of putting data centers in space. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai has also touted Project Suncatcher, aiming to launch a low Earth orbit data center powered by solar energy in space.

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