'We're racing to launch': Exploration to soar under Trump and Musk, space firm boss says

Max Haot of Vast Space says private space industry sees new administration as natural allies

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A Trump administration influenced by Elon Musk could lead to a surge in privately funded space missions, the chief executive of a leading space firm has said.

Speaking to The National at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Max Haot, chief executive of Vast Space, said he was hopeful that Mars could be reached in the coming years by SpaceX’s Starship rocket.

He spoke just hours before Mr Trump was inaugurated to begin his second four-year term as US president. Mr Haot also praised the UAE and Saudi Arabia for having two of the most advanced emerging space programmes in the world.

We would be honoured to have either the Kingdom or the Emirates as customers of ours. They would be perfect to potentially lead a mission

Max Haot,
Vast Space

“Trump specifically is really committed, with his relationship with Elon Musk, in getting the US obviously to the Moon for sure, to be the first, and to win in space,” Mr Haot said. “But we also expect that there might be an even greater focus on Mars, a major push on Mars.

"We’ll see what happens in the next few hours, days, weeks. From our point of view [there is] a lot of excitement on what’s to come. We definitely see there’s a chance, a step function in America’s leadership in space exploration that will come in the next four years."

Anna Hazlett, founder of AzurX, a UAE-based private advisory and investment firm specialising in the space sector, said the industry under a Trump administration would benefit the industry globally, not just in the US.

Vast Space's artist impressions for Haven-2, a commercial outpost it hopes would replace the International Space Station once it retires end of this decade. Photo: Vast Space

"The new US administration could really shake things up for the private space sector. We should see a stronger push for innovation, more streamlined regulations and a bigger emphasis on public-private partnerships,” said Ms Hazlett, whose company has worked with clients like Blue Origin, the space company run by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder.

“This is a chance for private companies to step up and play a leading role in shaping the future of the space economy, not just for the US but globally. It’ll be exciting to see how this evolves in the coming months. I know the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are preparing for increased interest from US companies looking to localise and this in turn will support the growth of these emerging space markets.”

Mr Musk, who has been recruited by Mr Trump to spearhead a drive to improve government efficiency, has previously said that an uncrewed mission to Mars using SpaceX’s Starship rocket could take place as early as 2026, with crewed missions potentially following in subsequent years. The technology to achieve missions to Mars “is here”, Mr Haot said, and it was now a question of “focus and execution”.

“I’m expecting it to last hopefully for the benefit of humanity and make us multi-planetary, get us to Mars maybe by the end of the term. It’s a very ambitious goal. It might happen, it might not,” he said.

However, the Starship programme – the rocket is described as the largest and most powerful space rocket ever – suffered a setback when one exploded after taking off on a test flight last Thursday. The programme has been grounded while investigations take place.

Founded in 2021 and based in California, Vast is an important partner of SpaceX and is one of the leading space companies to have emerged as Nasa looks to transfer low-Earth orbit operations to the private sector. In 2023 Vast announced plans for the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1, which is currently under construction and could be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as this year.

The aim is that soon after Haven-1 is launched, the first human spaceflight to it would take place on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Seats on the first crewed flight to the station are to be made available for sale, and Mr Musk’s company will provide training for astronauts selected.

Mr Haot said that the prospect of the transition from existing space stations – the International Space Station (ISS) and China’s Tiangong space station – run by government-allied organisations, to commercial space stations, is what “excites us”.

'Racing to launch'

“We’re developing and launching the world’s first commercial space station and we are racing to launch before the end of the year. We will be the first ever to have a commercial space station,” Mr Haot said. “And we also believe that we can do it a lot faster and a lot cheaper through iterative and vertically integrated engineering.”

In December, Vast announced that if it was selected by Nasa, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket would launch two Dragon spacecraft missions to the ISS, supporting Nasa’s aim for there to be more private astronaut missions (PAMs). Nasa has said PAMs are critical to supporting future low-Earth orbit commercial space stations, and Vast’s missions would be the fifth and sixth PAMs to take place.

President Sheikh Mohamed meets Emirati students studying in the United States and UAE astronauts Hazza Al Mansoori and Noura Al Matroushi during a visit in September. Ryan Carter / UAE Presidential Court

Mr Haot said that Vast wanted to work with “sovereign astronauts” who may or may not be allied to nations that until now had been involved with ISS missions. “This is more a commercial approach where these nations can work with us and basically buy a ticket to the station to do important science,” he said. “That’s the number-one priority – enabling nations that want to go more, or that have never gone to the ISS, [to have] that opportunity.”

Self-funded missions, UAE and Saudi Arabia

He said that Vast also wanted to work with private self-funded individuals keen to visit the ISS, although he added that he disliked the term "space tourism". Potentially one astronaut on each upcoming mission could be such a private customer.

“We’re going to the commercialisation of the space station. If you look at the market, who can be our customers and our partners?” he said. “Clearly everyone that’s already involved in the ISS – obviously Nasa and the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe, but the Middle East and … the Emirates and Saudi Arabia I would say are the biggest market outside the traditional ISS players.”

Mr Haot said that the UAE and Saudi Arabia appeared to have “the most advanced” emerging space programmes and he had been impressed by their activities so far and their “amazingly trained astronaut corps”.

“We also see the region as a key market for partnership outside again of the original ISS partners. We’re very invested in building the relationships with the key players in the region,” Mr Haot said. “So we would be honoured to have either the kingdom … or the Emirates as customers of ours.

"They would be perfect to potentially lead a mission to one of the world’s first commercial space stations. More to be seen in the future, but certainly on our side, it’s our goal to be partners within the region.”

Additional reporting by Daniel Bardsley and Sarwat Nasir