President Donald Trump said NASA plans to launch its first nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars within the next two years, part of a broader push to put American astronauts on the Red Planet.
Trump made the announcement while speaking at the UP Summit at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“Within the next two years, NASA will launch the first ever nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars,” Trump said.
He framed the mission as a precursor to a crewed landing. “We’re going to be paving the way for astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the Red planet,” he said.
The Mars mission is tied to NASA’s Artemis program, which is focused on building a long-term human presence on the moon before turning to Mars. Astronauts completed a lunar flyby earlier this year as part of Artemis II. Artemis III is set to test spacecraft and landing systems in Earth orbit in 2027, and Artemis IV is expected to attempt a lunar landing in early 2028, before Trump leaves office.
Trump said his administration intends to go further, telling the crowd the U.S. “will establish a permanent presence on lunar soil.” He cited his recently issued “American Declaration of Freedom in Space,” which he said asserts Americans’ right to explore and settle beyond Earth under U.S. law.
“Just this week, I issued the American Declaration of Freedom in Space, proclaiming all of space opened for American settlement, American civilization, and American freedom,” Trump said.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman spoke before introducing the president and laid out the agency’s longer-term ambitions.
“We are going to venture farther into the solar system and move closer to that next giant leap,” Isaacman said.
Isaacman said the ultimate goal remains the day “American astronauts plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars.”
The administration has also floated other space initiatives, including a proposed U.S. Space Academy announced in August that would train students for careers in the Space Force, NASA and the commercial spaceflight industry.
Trump closed his remarks with a broader statement of purpose. “Our calling is to explore. Our purpose is to build, and our aim is always to win,” he said.
