America is going back to the moon.

President Donald Trump has signed a directive that involves sending astronauts to the moon and, hopefully, to the Mars.

Trump said, “This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and perhaps, someday, to many worlds beyond.”

It’s been awhile since humans explored the moon. The last mission to the moon was in 1972. But why has it been so long since there’s been a trip to the moon?

NASA has focused on individual missions instead of planning trips to the moon or the idea of creating settlements on the moon. The idea behind exploring the moon is to one day establish some kind of livelihood on the rocky sphere.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been an advocate for sending humans to Mars. So, naturally, he had a response to the president’s announcement of his space plans.

Musk tweeted: “It is high time that humanity went beyond Earth. Should have a moon base by now and sent astronauts to Mars. The future needs to inspire.”

Musk has big plans for the exploration and colonization of Mars. So, any plans for that, especially from the president of the U.S., sound like great news to Musk.

During the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) conference in Adelaide, Australia, this past September, Musk said:

Fundamentally, the future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we are a space-faring civilization and multi planetary species than if we are not. You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great and that is what being a space-faring civilization is all about.

Naturally, there’s a lot to plan for when considering a trip back to the moon in order to establish some type of settlement. And this plan could go beyond Trump’s presidential term…

Making Space a Priority

For such a long time, there’s been no national interest that’s coincided with continuing space exploration. It wasn’t essential to America’s domestic or foreign policy.

NASA’s portion of the federal budget has significantly declined from 5% in 1972 (during the first Apollo mission) to less than 0.5% today. It’s an organization that’s barely received any attention in 45 years.

This isn’t the first time that a president has tried to initiate a human return to the moon. Former President H.W. Bush did so with the Space Exploration Initiative in 1989 and so did former President George W. Bush in 2004 with the Vision for Space Exploration. Neither of those plans happened because there was a lack of funding for and commitment to the projects.

Like I mentioned earlier, Trump’s Space Policy Directive-1 might take some time to iron out all of the details — like how NASA will fund the project. In the coming months, there will be more meetings with the National Space Council to determine where the nation is heading in terms of going to the moon.

Dr. Mark Shelhamer, a former chief scientist at NASA, told Inverse his thoughts on Trump’s Space Policy Directive-1:

[The] short answer is no, I don’t think it can be done in four years. Maybe eight. The Orion capsule can do the moon mission, and NASA is working on a Deep Space Gateway that would permit longer missions in and around the moon— like a mini-iSS for lunar flights. But neither of these are yet finished. Even more than that — where’s the rocket?

Moon Exploration Will Have an Impact on the Economy

If all goes well, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) will greatly benefit from these exploration plans. They’ll be the companies that’ll come out on top from frequent trips to the moon.

Then you have Musk’s SpaceX that recently updated its next-generation rocket to include lunar transit capabilities. And Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has announced that it’ll invest capital into a moon lander as part of a NASA partnership.

It’s a little ambitious to assume that moon exploration or even settlement will begin during Trump’s presidency. But what his Space Policy Directive-1 does do is publicize that the U.S. is ready to get back to space and that its plans are backed by NASA and companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, SpaceX, and Blue Origin.

Until next time,

Jennifer Clark
Pro Trader Today