Sabrina

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Aldous Huxley warned of a future where control and the pursuit of stability come at the expense of freedom, individuality and independent thought. We should be careful not to let fear of technological progress become an excuse to restrict humanity's future.

The Fellowship would have reached Mordor in 20 minutes with Starlink.

Sauron wouldn't stand a chance against low latency.

America wants to expand beyond Earth, use the resources of space and eventually colonise the solar system. That is the idea behind President Trump's American Declaration of Freedom in Space. The first step is the Moon. America wants to return by 2028, build a permanent base and use what it learns there to prepare for trips to Mars. But getting to the Moon is only the beginning. We also need to make space travel cheaper and find ways for people to live and work there.

Reusable rockets have already changed space travel. They have brought down launch costs and made it possible to launch more often. Competition has helped too. We need the same kind of progress with lunar landers, transport and other space technology. SpaceX and Blue Origin are both building landers for NASA. Having two companies competing gives NASA more choice and pushes both to deliver.

But once we can get people and equipment to the Moon, what happens next? We need to find ways to stay there and use what we find. There is frozen water near the lunar South Pole. If we can extract it, we could use it for drinking water, make oxygen and possibly even rocket fuel. That means we wouldn't have to bring everything from Earth. We would also need power, communications, places to live and ways to get around. There is a lot more to building a base than just landing on the Moon. The idea is to move beyond short visits and learn how to live and work there.

The declaration also says America wants to lead this effort, with private companies playing an important part. Economic growth and national security are also part of the plan. And the Moon is not the final destination. What we learn there could help us get to Mars and eventually explore and use resources across the solar system. The bigger goal is to make humanity a spacefaring civilisation.

There is still a lot to do, and none of it will be easy. But if we can make space travel cheaper and learn to use the resources we find, we could make things possible that are difficult today. First the Moon, then Mars, and eventually the rest of the solar system.

whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…