FPI / February 7, 2025
By Richard Fisher
Securing and defending American access to both the Moon and Mars are crucial to the future security of the United States and its democratic allies.
Even though during his first term, Trump revived the U.S. manned Moon program in his Executive Order of Dec. 11, 2017, that had been cancelled by President Obama on April 15, 2010, Trump’s more recent emphasis on putting Americans on Mars has given cause for some to assess that he may not favor ongoing programs to reach the Moon.
During his Jan. 20 inaugural address Trump stated, “And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” while not mentioning the Moon.
Earlier on Jan. 2, SpaceX Corporation leader Elon Musk, a key supporter of Trump and now leader of his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), posted on his “X” social media platform: “No, we’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”
Previously, on Sept. 7, 2024, Musk had posted on “X:”
“The first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 years [2026} when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens. These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 [2028] years. Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years.”
Since at least 2016 Musk has been promoting his vision for populating Mars and while his SpaceX Starship has been “hired” by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to perform manned Moon landing missions; for Musk, Starship is primarily for realizing his ambitions for Mars.
So, in a Feb. 2 op-ed for The Hill, space policy expert Mark Withington asks: “So, is NASA still going to the moon, or is the Trump administration preparing to abandon the moon and send astronauts straight to Mars?”
The logical answer is “No,” as defending access to the Moon and Mars, which is a crucial future security interest for the United States, requires that it send people to, build bases on and satellite networks around both the Moon and Mars.
For starters, Trump’s Jan. 27 Executive Order calling for an “Iron Dome” missile defense for all of the United States and missile defense cooperation with allies, requires the Department of Defense to plan for deploying weapons in space, saying: “…the deployment of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer; (iii) Development and deployment of proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept.”
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