A new White House space transportation policy aims to support more than 1000 launches and reentries annually by 2030.
To achieve this, the departments of transportation and defence, along with NASA, are tasked with implementing a plan to integrate space launch and reentry management into airspace and traffic control modernisation efforts and designate priority airspace for critical space launch corridors.
Over the coming six months, those departments, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, state and local officials, and other relevant stakeholders, are required to identify potential locations for additional launch facilities and targeted development or improvement of launch infrastructure and report these findings to the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.
“Within the same time frame, the Secretary of Commerce and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, shall ensure reliable access to spectrum for commercial and Federal space launch, reentry, recovery and on-orbit activities,” a White House briefing states.
By April 2027, the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, is required to produce a development plan for the designated federal land reentry site that considers commercial access, infrastructure and co-development needs and opportunities.
For more information
Presidential memorandum on space transportation at the White House
Image: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Crew-9 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, Sept. 28, 2024. The mission carried US Space Force Col. Nick Hague to the International Space Station. (US Space Force photo by Senior Airman Spencer Contreras)