Trump’s plan to create commercial space…in space

The Trump administration has revealed plans to privatise the International Space Station, turning the ageing spacecraft into an orbiting commercial space.

In an internal NASA document the White House details plans to stop funding the Space Station after 2024 and hand it over to private companies, according to the Washington Post.

What form that privatisation could take is not yet clear, however the documents suggest the government will throw open the station’s doors to big business.

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Launched into orbit in 1998, the International Space Station has been a hub of research for the last 20 years, and costs around US$3 to $4 billion to run each year.

But the NASA report suggests the government will turn the facility over to the private sector in seven years time, rather than end its operation.

“The decision to end direct federal support for the ISS in 2025 does not imply that the platform itself will be deorbited at that time – it is possible that industry could continue to operate certain elements or capabilities of the ISS as part of a future commercial platform,” the document says.

“NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years in order to ensure continued human access to and presence in low Earth orbit.”

The Post reports the administration will request US$150 million in its 2019 budget – and more in subsequent years – to fund the move towards a commercially-operated station.

The money will “enable the development and maturation of commercial entities and capabilities which will ensure that commercial successors to the ISS-potentially including elements of the ISS-are operational when they are needed”, the report says.