Unleashing America’s Manifest Destiny:
The End of an Era & The Start of a New Space Policy

By: Robert H. Brumley, II

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan launched what became known as the Era of Space Commercialization through National Security Decision Directive 144. Though not formally an Executive Order, NSDD‑144 functioned like one—bundling together a series of policy actions that directed the government space enterprise to withdraw from activities that could be delivered more efficiently and cost‑effectively by the private sector.

This approach mirrored Reagan’s broader governing philosophy across both terms: government should step aside where markets can operate. For those of us who were “in the room,” Reagan’s commercialization policy was unambiguous. It meant identifying—and systematically dismantling—government‑imposed barriers that prevented private companies from offering comparable services commercially, free from the distortions of government competition.

That era is now over.

The Trump Era of Space Commerce has begun—arguably initiated during President Trump’s first term. Under the leadership of Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the Administration brought market credibility to an emerging generation of space companies spanning launch, satellite manufacturing, Earth observation, private space stations, and communications. Secretary Ross’s most consequential achievement was not rhetorical; it was economic: the articulation of a credible total addressable market for space goods and services approaching $1 trillion by the 2030s.

The policy groundwork has largely been laid. The hard work ahead is implementation.

At the core of that challenge is a defining question: What, exactly, is the Space Marketplace? Is it a government‑funded sector, driven by public spending and procurement programs? Or is it a privately financed market—one that sells goods and services to the government as a customer rather than relying on it as a benefactor?

The distinction matters. Governments purchasing hardware through bespoke programs do not create a commercial marketplace. Governments purchasing services from private owner‑operators do. When companies fly to New York and Silicon Valley to raise capital instead of to Washington to lobby for appropriations, a true marketplace has arrived.

President Trump is uniquely positioned to act decisively at this inflection point and secure a lasting legacy. Building on his recent Executive Orders—first deregulating commercial space transportation, then asserting U.S. sovereignty interests in space as a vital national security domain—his next step should be clear.

The next Executive Order should affirm Space as a market.

It should explicitly invoke the American tradition of Manifest Destiny—not as nostalgia, but as strategy. Space is no longer an abstract frontier. It is a place, a domain, a territory, and above all, a marketplace—ready for American expansion, competition, dominance, and enterprise.

Like Reagan, Trump understands power—but from a different angle. Where Reagan emphasized military superiority, Trump prioritizes economic strength. A nation that trades independently, produces competitively, and enforces rules effectively is a powerful nation. Economic power underwrites national security, prosperity, and strategic leverage.

Trump also recognizes the growing anticompetitive behavior of global rivals, particularly China. The most effective non‑military defense against these competitors is not rhetoric—it is trade law. China remains acutely sensitive to violations of international trade norms and is repeatedly challenged before global tribunals. Rules matter—when they are enforced.

A presidential declaration that Space now constitutes a legitimate, governed marketplace under international trade law would be a watershed moment. Inviting allies and trading partners into a space‑specific trade framework would be an act of forward‑leaning global leadership, conferring legitimacy, stability, and long‑term protections on a trillion‑dollar market. 

Words alone will not defend that market. Neither will voluntary cooperation. As President Reagan and Secretary Malcolm Baldrige understood—and as President Trump and Secretary Howard Lutnick should recognize—assertive trade policy is far preferable to military confrontation.