Here’s how you can make your voice heard as the Trump administration works toward a goal of supporting more than 1,000 rocket launches per year in the United States.
As the number of rocket launches is expected to soar in the next decade across the United States, the Trump administration is seeking public input on ideas to support the increasing demand.
That means you can make your voice heard amid moves by President Donald Trump and his Republican administration to strip away regulations on the commercial aerospace industry and usher in an unprecedented era of spaceflight.
How can the federal government make better use of existing spaceports in Florida and California, where launch pads are feeling the strain? And, perhaps more importantly, where can completely new coastal and offshore launch sites be constructed to ease the backlog of both commercial and government missions for launch service providers?
Those are among the questions the U.S. government looks to answer as NASA looks to send humans to both the moon and Mars, and as the need for uncrewed satellite deliveries to Earth orbit grows.
“America’s commercial space industry is driving innovation, strengthening our national security, creating high-paying jobs, and expanding economic opportunity across the country,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an Aug. 21 statement. “We will ensure the next era of space transportation is powered by American workers, American companies and American ingenuity.”
Here’s everything to know about Trump’s plan for rocket launches to surge in the U.S., and how the public can submit comments on the plans.
Trump wants to see 1,000 rocket launches per year by 2030
A new policy Trump signed Aug. 20 calls for the U.S. to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries per year by 2030.
Meeting the ambitious benchmark would mean that launches would more than quadruple from today, when about 200 rockets get off the ground per year.
Trump’s goal is also significantly higher than what the Federal Aviation Administration has already predicted is on the horizon in the next decade. In a 10-year forecast released in July, the FAA – which licenses commercial rocket launches – predicted nearly 4,300 launches were likely in the U.S. between 2026-2036, with spaceflights increasing annually to more than 500.
Policy calls for more launch locations in US, upgrades to spaceports
To accomplish the lofty objective, the Trump administration calls for the development of more launch sites across the U.S., as well as upgrades to existing spaceports where rockets already lift off.
Today, orbital rocket launches in the U.S. take place in Florida, Texas and California – all coastal states where rockets can fly over open water rather than populated cities.
In the memorandum, the Trump administration orders the Pentagon and NASA to “prioritize and coordinate on infrastructure investments” to boost both launch and reentry capacity at federal ranges. That includes reshaping the scheduling at federally owned spaceports in order to balance the needs of both commercial providers and government missions.
The policy also directs the military and NASA to “regularly publish range schedules” in the name of transparency. As of now, schedules for most rocket launches can be hard to come by, with specific missions and target windows often not made public very far in advance.
FAA seeks public input on new rocket launch sites
Now, you can make your voice heard on the objectives Trump and his administration have established for U.S. spaceflight.
The FAA is asking the public and the aerospace industry for ideas on two areas: where the U.S. should build new spaceports, and how it should set aside priority airspace for critical space-launch routes. Officials will consider factors like safety, geography, access to roads and the ability to launch over open water when deciding viable sites.
Offshore locations like oil and gas platforms that can be converted into launch sites are also under consideration.
The agency issued a request for information – an opportunity for the public to comment on the ideas – that closes Oct. 26.
SpaceX, Blue Origin, eye more launch sites
The move comes as major commercial launch providers like SpaceX, Blue Origin and plenty more spaceflight companies are looking to increase operations across the U.S.
Blue Origin and SpaceX are working with NASA to develop both rockets and lunar landers that will be critical to the U.S. space agency’s ambitions of returning astronauts to the moon under its Artemis program.
SpaceX, founded in 2002 by tech mogul Elon Musk, is also working to get its massive Starship rocket operational in order to support its Starlink internet satellite business and achieve Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars. The world’s largest rocket, eclipsing 400 feet when fully stacked, has so far only launched on flight tests from South Texas at SpaceX’s Starbase headquarters.
But SpaceX is making progress in introducing Starship in Florida, with launch plans at both the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company also recently unveiled plans to build a new sprawling $100 billion Starship launch facility in Louisiana in an area generally referred to as Pecan Island, where up to 12 launch towers may be constructed.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, meanwhile, is at work getting its towering 322-foot New Glenn rocket back on track in Florida, with plans to introduce an even larger version following a devastating explosion at the end of May. The rocket could also launch in the years ahead from the growing Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Some critics oppose easing rocket launch regulations
While proponents in the spaceflight industry have lauded Trump’s policies as critical in undoing overly restrictive bureaucratic red tape, the moves have not been without their critics.
For instance, a proposal at the end of July to exempt commercial space launch licensing from many environmental regulations drew swift condemnation from environmental groups. Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, filed comments Tuesday, Sept. 1 calling the proposal both illegal and a threat to residents and wildlife near launch sites.
“The environmental laws on the books are there for a reason,” Scott W. Stern, a senior associate attorney for, Earthjustice, said in a statement, “to ensure companies remain responsible for and accountable to the frontline communities in which they are operating.”
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com