President Donald Trump unveiled an ambitious new push into deep-space exploration Friday, announcing that NASA is working toward launching a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars while establishing a new federal academy dedicated to America’s future in space.
Trump revealed the plans during a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he also presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four astronauts who completed the Artemis II lunar mission in April.
The White House highlighted Trump’s visit on social media as the president outlined a broader vision that includes returning Americans to the lunar surface, developing a permanent presence on the Moon and eventually reaching Mars.
“NASA has already begun to work on the first ever nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft which will launch in 2028 on a mission to Mars,” Trump said during his remarks.
Trump said nuclear technology would give the spacecraft significantly greater endurance for deep-space travel.
“They have to go nuclear because they have unlimited essentially unlimited fuel,” the president said. “You don’t have to fill up the tanks every so many miles, right? It’s incredible.”
Trump then offered an even more expansive prediction for the future of American space exploration.
“This ship will be among the first of what will ultimately be a massive American starfleet,” he said.
The spacecraft referenced during Trump’s remarks is known as Space Reactor-1 Freedom, or SR-1 Freedom, according to the source report.
The planned NASA technology demonstration mission will use nuclear electric propulsion and is scheduled to launch in late 2028 before traveling toward Mars.
The mission is also expected to conduct flybys and deploy a payload known as SkyFall, consisting of three helicopters based on the Ingenuity Mars helicopter design.
The White House says the project is intended to demonstrate fission power and propulsion technology that could eventually be used during future deep-space exploration missions.
Trump tied the project to a broader push for American dominance beyond Earth.
“From the very beginning, America has always been a frontier nation and space is the highest of all the frontiers,” Trump said.
“Our manifest destiny is to explore and settle this great unknown, carry forward the light of American liberty into the stars,” he continued.
Trump said the Moon would serve as an important stop on the country’s eventual path toward Mars.
“You’ll be stopping on the moon and you’re going to be going to Mars,” the president said. “A nation cannot be first on Earth if we’re going to be second in space.”
Trump also signed an executive order Friday beginning the process of establishing the United States Space Academy.
The order creates a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy and tasks the panel with developing recommendations for a proposed NASA-led federal academy.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will chair the commission, which has 120 days to deliver recommendations to Trump.
Those recommendations will cover issues including the academy’s governance, curriculum, service requirements for graduates, admission prerequisites, permanent location and implementation strategy, per Trending Politics.
Trump said the rapid expansion of the Space Force and the commercial space industry means the country will require a new generation of specialists.
“It’s clear we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators,” Trump said.
Isaacman called the proposed academy a “transformational step” that could educate future engineers, scientists, technicians, operators and astronauts.
“In the years ahead, we will return NASA astronauts to the lunar surface, build the Moon Base, get underway on nuclear power, ignite the orbital economy and launch more missions of science and discovery,” Isaacman said.
Friday’s ceremony also honored Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The four astronauts launched April 1 and returned safely to Earth on April 10 after traveling around the Moon, according to NASA.
“Proudly awarding the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the remarkable crew of Artemis II,” Trump said during the ceremony, while also praising the engineers, scientists and other NASA personnel who supported the mission.
The announcements follow another major space directive Trump issued Aug. 20.
That policy directs federal agencies to work toward supporting more than 1,000 launches and reentries annually on American soil by 2030 while expanding commercial transportation to the Moon and exploring commercial options for robotic and human missions to Mars.
The administration is also targeting a crewed lunar landing in 2028 and the initial components of a lunar outpost by 2030.
Together, the Mars mission, proposed Space Academy and lunar projects represent an expansive effort by the administration to accelerate US space exploration over the remainder of the decade.
