Executive Summary
As China makes massive steps forward in its space technology and national space ambitions, there is growing concern that it will land humans on the Moon before the United States returns. China has more ambitious plans than the United States and the ability to achieve them in a short time frame, and thus is close to reaching its goal of achieving space supremacy over the West. The United States’ space industry has been stagnant for many years except for a few companies, and even those companies are being held back by a number of forces. SpaceX, the crown jewel of the United States’ space program, is beset by technical and procedural delays. A change is needed in the space industry if the United States is to have any hope of competing with China in space.
Fortunately, there are ways to get the space race back on track and even achieve victories such as a United States lunar base being built before a Chinese one. A prime example is that of special economic zones, innovative systems that allow for rapid industrial growth and quick expansion. These zones were the key to China’s unbelievably fast economic growth beginning in the 1980s. Many issues currently plaguing the United States’ industrial sector, such as regulatory overreach and processes involving lengthy environ mental impact statements, could be sidestepped by adopting similar zones in America.
Southern states, policymakers, and space commercial companies wishing to propel the national space program forward could band together and form a Space Coast Compact, a special economic zone that makes use of the principles of interstate compacts. These states could set their own regulatory framework, one that encourages quick industrialization to speed up the national space program, ensuring American rockets and cargo are ready to land on the Moon before China does. This interstate compact could feature construction of space ports in several Southern states, massive factories for rockets and other space industry inputs that would bring high-paying jobs to the states involved, and the exponential growth that follows from having a technological hub. Space companies would be able to launch more frequently without spending months waiting for federal investigations to end after minor incidents. The best and brightest engineers would relocate to live next to the other people working on the grand project of putting Americans in space, this time to stay. The possibilities of this type of interstate compact are endless, and its outcome would be entirely up to the states involved.
