Imagine space vacation resorts, weekend trips to the Moon, and interplanetary rockets making routine trips throughout the solar system. While that may all sound like science fiction, it could be closer to reality than you might think, thanks to a bold Trump administration initiative.
This summer, Secretary of Transportation and Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced an ambitious plan to build a nuclear fission reactor for deployment on the lunar surface by 2030. If this modern-day Apollo program succeeds, it would be a “giant leap for Mankind” even greater than Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon.
The Trump administration is ahead of its time in recognizing the importance of the emerging “space economy.” Astrophysicists and cosmologists believe that there could be quadrillions (that’s 1,000 trillions) of dollars’ worth of untapped resources in space. Moreover, becoming the first country to build infrastructure on the Moon carries with it critical national security implications.
The growth and importance of the space economy have been evident for some time. Over the past decade, the space economy has expanded by 60 percent, with a nine percent increase from 2020 to 2021. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found that in 2023, the space economy added 0.6 percent to total U.S. GDP and supported 373,000 private-sector jobs.
In the second quarter of 2025, the global space economy reached $613 billion in value, marking a 7.8 percent year-over-year increase. According to another estimate from the Boston Consulting Group and the European Space Policy, the value of the space economy to the broader economy is already estimated at $3.1 trillion. Over the next three years, this number is predicted to increase fivefold.
“Space is a cornerstone of our society,” said Heather Pringle, CEO of the Space Foundation and a retired Air Force Major General. “It underpins our economy, public safety, and national security.”
Amid mounting concerns about demographic collapse and artificial intelligence leading to a white-collar job apocalypse, space-based enterprises could also provide critical new opportunities for growth, investment, and employment in the United States. As the late Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker put it to me in a 2002 interview, the economy is like “a growing tree that must produce new branches and seeds to survive.” He believed that if the economy is “understood and managed correctly,” that it “can grow and support everyone.” The space economy could be one of those new branches.
While the prospect of endeavors like building a nuclear reactor on the Moon is an enormous challenge, equally enormous is the opportunity to provide jobs for designers, electricians, engineers, welders, computer scientists, coders, and dozens of other occupations. Professor Fritz Häusler, an economist and former advisor to the German government on space policy, told me that investing in space will produce “new jobs that no one has even imagined yet.”
Every American household has already benefited from earlier investments in the space economy, often without even realizing it. Services like DirecTV, DISH Network, Sirius XM radio, and GPS systems rely on space-based technology for broadcasting and communication.
Meanwhile, new technologies like Elon Musk’s Starlink and Apple’s ability to use satellites to send emergency messages are further revolutionizing the way human beings stay connected and interact with one another. Soon, thanks to the space economy, it may be the case that you can access the internet from anywhere in the world via your smartphone over a network of satellites.
The increase in satellite launches and the number of satellites currently in orbit is another sign of the rapid development of the space economy. According to the Space Report, there were 259 launches in 2024, which means a spacecraft was taking off approximately every 34 hours – five hours more frequently than in the previous year. By the end of last year, there were more than 11,500 satellites in orbit.
But the real great leap in the development of space-based infrastructure will likely come with commercially viable space mining operations – something a nuclear reactor on the Moon makes a far more viable proposition. In particular, companies could look to launch missions from bases on the Moon to nearby asteroids, which are believed to contain huge deposits of gold, silver, platinum, iron, nickel, and other elements.
Since 2012, efforts to establish processing facilities in lunar orbit have been ongoing. Various space missions have tested drilling technologies – chemical, laser, and mechanical – along with semi-automated transportation to Earth. Scientists have identified suitable materials and extraction methods and evaluated their environmental impact, raising hopes for long-term trials.
By setting his sights on a nuclear reactor and base on the Moon, President Trump is reaffirming America’s destiny as a nation of explorers, pioneers, and entrepreneurs. Just as the frontier once drove innovation and prosperity on Earth, the next frontier lies above us. Building permanent infrastructure in space is not just about science – it is about national strength, economic growth, and the spirit of discovery that defines the American character.
Trump’s vision reminds us that America does not shrink from the unknown – it builds, leads, and boldly claims the future.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
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