BOEM Explores Potential for OCS Space Launch and Recovery
In a statement posted on its website this week, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it had initiated the first step to explore the potential for Outer Continental Shelf space launch and recovery.
“Supporting the Trump Administration’s bold vision to strengthen U.S. space leadership, launch capacity, re-entry, and recovery infrastructure … [BOEM] announced the publication of a Request for Information to explore the potential use of the Outer Continental Shelf for offshore space launch and re-entry activities,” the statement revealed.
BOEM’s statement highlighted that the request opens a 30-day comment period for BOEM to gather technical, environmental, and operational information from industry, researchers and other stakeholders “that will help inform potential future activities, interagency coordination, and planning for offshore space launches and recovery”.
The Request for Information seeks information on operational practices, technical and safety standards, environmental considerations, and best practices for offshore space launch and re-entry facilities, according to the statement. It also seeks insight into emerging domestic and international guidelines or voluntary standards relevant to offshore space launch and re-entry, the statement revealed, adding that “feedback will help ensure the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has a comprehensive understanding of current technologies, practices and research trends in this growing industry”.
A summary under a notice of Request for Information published on the Federal Register by BOEM highlighted that the organization was not proposing a specific project, lease, easement, right-of-way, or authorization through its Request for Information.
The statement posted on BOEM’s site noted that the Request for Information supports implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s December 2025 Executive Order, Ensuring American Space Superiority, which it said “calls on federal agencies to identify and advance policies that enable the growth of the U.S. commercial space sector”.
In the statement, Acting BOEM Director Matt Giacona said, “the Outer Continental Shelf presents a significant opportunity to support the future of America’s space economy”.
“Offshore launch, re-entry, and recovery infrastructure could expand operational flexibility, increase capacity, reduce constraints on growing launch demand, and strengthen the nation’s commercial and national security space capabilities,” he added.
“With approximately 3.2 billion acres under federal jurisdiction, BOEM is uniquely positioned to help evaluate this emerging opportunity,” he continued.
“This Request for Information is an important first step in assessing how offshore development could support the next era of U.S. space leadership,” Giacona went on to state.
In Executive Order 14369, which was posted on the White House website on December 18, 2025, Trump stated that “superiority in space is a measure of national vision and willpower” and said “the technologies Americans develop to achieve it contribute substantially to the Nation’s strength, security, and prosperity”.
“The United States must therefore pursue a space policy that will extend the reach of human discovery, secure the Nation’s vital economic and security interests, unleash commercial development, and lay the foundation for a new space age,” he noted in the order.
Trump revealed in this order that his administration would focus its space policy on achieving several priorities, including “leading the world in space exploration and expanding human reach and American presence in space by … returning Americans to the Moon by 2028 through the Artemis Program … [and] establishing initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030 to ensure a sustained American presence in space and enable the next steps in Mars exploration”.
In a statement posted on its website in January 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the DOE and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would develop a lunar surface reactor by 2030.
The statement noted that the “historic memorandum of understanding advances President Trump’s America First space policy”.
DOE said in the statement that it and NASA anticipate deploying a fission surface power system “capable of producing safe, efficient, and plentiful electrical power that will be able to operate for years without the need to refuel”.
“The deployment of a lunar surface reactor will enable future sustained lunar missions by providing continuous and abundant power, regardless of sunlight or temperature,” the DOE said.
In the statement, the DOE highlighted that the agencies’ “joint effort to develop, fuel, authorize, and ready a lunar surface reactor for launch builds upon more than 50 years of successful collaboration in support of space exploration, technology development, and the strengthening of our national security”.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in this statement that “history shows that when American science and innovation come together, from the Manhattan Project to the Apollo Mission, our nation leads the world to reach new frontiers once thought impossible”.
“This agreement continues that legacy. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and his America First Space Policy, the Department is proud to work with NASA and the commercial space industry on what will be one of the greatest technical achievements in the history of nuclear energy and space exploration,” he added.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the statement that “under President Trump’s national space policy, America is committed to returning to the Moon, building the infrastructure to stay, and making the investments required for the next giant leap to Mars and beyond”.
“Achieving this future requires harnessing nuclear power. This agreement enables closer collaboration between NASA and the Department of Energy to deliver the capabilities necessary to usher in the Golden Age of space exploration and discovery,” he added.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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