People of a certain age were lucky to have grown up when Technicolor images of needle-nosed rocket ships, rotating space stations, and planetary landscapes graced popular magazines and the silver screen. Cars had tins, hula hoops were in vogue, and private industry was cast as a major player in all things space. For the past 60 years, reality has fallen short of those dreams. However, the confluence of technological innovation, novel commercial models, and entrepreneurship on a cosmic scale point to a more optimistic future. If terrestrial experience is any guide, commercialization will be the key driver of space settlement. Without the ardent support of the private sector, space settlement depends on the vagaries or whims of government, which can change overnight. Fortunately, NASA and a few foresighted lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have in recent years taken steps to promote space commercialization. Months after taking office, the Trump administration announced its Space Policy Directive-1, which promotes commercial partners in the forefront of a "sustainable program [to] return ... humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations." The following year, Space Policy Directive-2 directed government agencies and the National Space Council to reevaluate and streamline rules and regulations affecting commercial use of space.
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