The returning president said the country would pursue its “manifest destiny into the star” and hailed Americans as being “innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers”.
“The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts,” Trump declared. “The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls.”
Trump’s decision to include Mars in his speech is hugely significant, given he changed US national policy in 2017 to make human space exploration a priority again.
==
==
Australia is now a key player in the subsequent Artemis program, with the US space agency tasking the Australian Space Agency with creating a rover that will collect lunar regolith, or moon soil, that will eventually be turned into oxygen to support a permanent human base.
Space CEO Elon Musk, who attended the speech, smiled and gave a thumbs-up reaction to the new president’s comments. The tech entrepreneur previously said in September that SpaceX would land Starship uncrewed on Mars in 2026, while a crewed mission could follow in four years.
Starship is the collective name for the SpaceX Super Heavy booster rocket and Starship spacecraft, destined to fly humans to Mars one day.
Testing began in April 2023 when the spacecraft failed to reach orbit, but culminated in the first stage incredibly returning to the original launch pad and being caught by mechanical arms in October last year.
PROMOTED CONTENT
The company is currently limited to five blast-offs per year but hopes to increase that to 25 if the FAA approves it.
The last launch, however, ended with the upper stage exploding over the Atlantic Ocean after a fire developed in the ship’s rear.
The company concluded that it would conduct a “thorough investigation” into the failure and make improvements for future Starship test flights.
Later reports suggested a number of aircraft flying over the Atlantic were instructed by flight controllers to go into holding patterns or be diverted to other airports.
It followed local reports that Qantas was delaying flights to South Africa following launches of SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 9s over the Southern Indian Ocean.
“The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling,” the organisation said in a statement.
“A Debris Response Area is activated only if the space vehicle experiences an anomaly with debris falling outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas.”
SpaceX had previously unveiled a list of major upgrades to Starship, marking the biggest design change since its initial test flight in April 2023.
Alterations debuting on flight seven included adding new sensors to the launch site to make the pincer-style catches more accurate and redesigning the propulsion system and heat shield.
Despite the explosion, the team did manage to perform only the second “chopstick-style” catch of the first stage booster, effectively making it reusable.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
Receive the latest developments and updates on Australia’s space industry direct to your inbox. Subscribe today to Space Connect here.
