Elon Musk’s Mars dream could get a boost from Trump’s victory

Sources said that Elon Musk’s dream of carrying people to Mars will become a greater national priority under the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, signaling that major changes in NASA’s lunar program and Musk’s SpaceX will be supported.

NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to use SpaceX’s Starship rocket to send humans to the Moon as a testing ground for later Mars missions, is expected to focus more on the Red Planet under the Trump administration and target uncrewed missions there later this decade, according to four people familiar . With Trump’s evolving space policy agenda.

Targeting Mars with spacecraft built for astronauts is not only more ambitious than focusing on the moon, it’s also fraught with risks and potentially more expensive.

Musk, who danced on stage at a Trump rally in October wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt, spent $119 million on Trump’s White House bid, successfully elevating space policy at an unusual time in the presidential transition.

In September, weeks after Musk endorsed Trump, Trump told reporters that the moon was a “launch pad” to reach his ultimate goal: Mars.

“We’ll at least get a more realistic Mars plan, you’ll see Mars designated as a target,” said Doug Loverro, a space industry consultant who once led NASA’s human exploration unit under the Trump administration. President of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

SpaceX, Musk and the Trump campaign did not immediately return requests for comment. A NASA spokesman said it would “not be appropriate to speculate on any changes with the new administration.”

Plans could still change as Trump’s transition team takes shape in the coming weeks, the sources added.

Trump launched the Artemis program during his first term in 2019, and it was one of several initiatives pursued under President Joe Biden’s administration. Trump space advisers want to revamp a program they claim has weakened in their absence, the sources said.

Musk, who also owns electric vehicle maker Tesla new tab and brain chip startup Neuralink, has made cutting government regulations and cutting red tape another key pillar of Trump support.

On space, Musk’s desires for deregulation are likely to trigger changes at the Federal Aviation Administration’s commercial space office, sources said; That office’s exclusive rocket launch oversight frustrated Musk for slowing SpaceX’s Starship development.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NASA under Trump will likely opt for fixed-price space contracts that place more responsibility on private companies and reduce overrun schedules that strain the Artemis budget, sources said.

That could spell trouble for NASA’s only rocket, the Space Launch System rocket (SLS), whose nearly $24 billion development since 2011 has been led by Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Some say it would be difficult to cancel the program because it would cost thousands of jobs and leave the United States even more dependent on SpaceX.

Boeing and Northrop did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk, whose predictions have sometimes proved overly ambitious, said in September that SpaceX would land Starship on Mars in 2026, with a manned mission to follow within four years. Trump said he discussed these ideas with Musk at campaign rallies.

Many industry experts view this timeline as improbable.

“Is it possible that Elon could put a Starship on the surface of Mars in a one-way mission by the end of Trump’s term? Absolutely, absolutely could,” said Scott Pace, the top official on space policy in Trump’s first term. .

“Is this a manned mission to Mars? No,” Pace added. “You have to walk before you run.”