US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to loosen federal regulations governing commercial rocket launches, a move aimed at speeding up space missions — and one that could hand Elon Musk’s SpaceX a significant boost.
The order directs the US transportation secretary to strip away “outdated, redundant or overly restrictive rules for launch and reentry vehicles” and to cut back on lengthy environmental reviews for launch licenses administered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Inefficient permitting processes discourage investment and innovation, limiting the ability of US companies to lead in global space markets,” the order states. It also warns that “overly complex environmental and other licensing and permitting regulations slow down commercial space launches and infrastructure development, and benefit entrenched incumbents over new market entrants.”
Although the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and Trump have been publicly feuding for months, SpaceX is likely to be the single biggest immediate beneficiary. The company dominates the US launch sector — outpacing even NASA — and Musk has long complained that environmental reviews and post-flight mishap probes have delayed testing of SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket at its South Texas site.
SpaceX was not mentioned by name in the order, but the policy shift is expected to benefit other private space companies too, as Washington seeks to ensure American dominance in the global space economy.
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With inputs from Reuters