Companies are planning to build space critical infrastructure. Can space policy keep up?

Building space policy is hard enough. It’s harder when trying to make a future-focused policy decision based on abstract concepts. That’s really the problem with the space critical infrastructure conversation, isn’t it? When we talk about space services, we look at what we know, which is low Earth orbit (LEO), and services provided from LEO assets to Earth. We talk considerably less about cislunar travel or interplanetary travel even though there are plans for both in the less than distant future. The difference is that one is real today and one is abstract. However, real plans to create the first space infrastructure to enable cislunar and interplanetary travel are underway. The difference between “space as critical infrastructure” and “space critical infrastructure” is about to go from abstract to real with the recent announcement of the Marslink project and the ongoing work on LunaNet. Space critical infrastructure will soon be built, and the space community needs to start planning for what systems in space, not just LEO, need to be protected as critical infrastructure. The concept may be abstract for now, but it will not be for long, and the avoidable, unnecessary lag of thoughtful critical infrastructure policy work will leave us needlessly falling behind the pace of technology deployments.While the space critical infrastructure remains stuck in a binary debate, we will soon be building actual infrastructure in space. Infrastructure that is built to enable ongoing missions beyond LEO to advance scientific missions, drive economic value and inspire science and technology for generations. Space policymakers should act before this infrastructure is deployed by codifying its importance domestically and in cooperation with spacefaring nations. Protecting the infrastructure that is critical to space missions beyond LEO means building security protocols into the fundamental technology from the design phase. Minimum cybersecurity and encryption standards should be enforced before the technology is deployed in recognition of its importance to our collective goals in cislunar and beyond. This infrastructure will enable missions from multiple private companies and governments from multiple nations. If we do not expand our view of space critical infrastructure beyond what we can see today, we will be behind by the time the first actual space infrastructure hardware is in place. Building for the moonAfter a long hiatus, crewed missions to the moon are real again with the upcoming launch of the Artemis 2 in April 2026. This mission will pave the way for a long-term presence on the moon. In addition to the scientific work that will be underway throughout the life of the program, future Artemis crewmembers will have to engage in mining, opening the potential for commercial endeavors to follow closely. Following a half century of a human-free moon after Apollo 17, humanity may go from zero humans on the moon for 53 years to humans constantly on the moon. This is a significant shift in the way the public and the private sector view operations and activities on the moon. In the same way that SpaceX’s innovation of reusable rockets and reduction of launch cost per kilogram opened the door to a flood of LEO satellites, so will the Artemis missions open the door to government and commercial activities on the moon in a way that humanity has never seen. To support these coming activities, NASA is working on LunaNet, a delay/disruption-tolerant network for the moon. The complex system will alleviate the need for pre-scheduled communications windows between space missions and ground stations, build a position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability, and allow astronauts on the moon to have a live connection for situational awareness and wellbeing while on mission. In other words, LunaNet is not simply an internet for the moon. It’s communications, PNT, and human safety. On Earth, we would call that critical infrastructure. We need to end the debate about designating space as terrestrial critical infrastructure and move toward a space critical infrastructure model. The National Space Council should begin this process immediately as a Space Policy Directive to be followed by Congressional action..Building for MarsIn November 2024, NASA released slides from a meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group wherein NASA staffers discussed purchasing data relay capabilities from a commercial provider at a rate of 4Mbps or greater. This modest-sounding relay rate must take place over 1.5 astronomical units (AU). SpaceX proposed a Marslink capability that would be similar to Starlink on Earth. The system would include satellites on Mars orbit to provide a view of the Martian surface plus a communications relay back to Earth. That NASA is having conversations about building a first-of-its-kind communications relay system to cover 1.5 AU should tell all Mars watchers something important. This is the first concept behind building permanent infrastructure to enable not just one, but multiple flights to Mars over time. And there will be more infrastructure to come.No matter the destination, travel into cislunar space and into interplanetary space will require infrastructure on which travelling spacecraft can depend. They will need some critical elements to achieve the trip such as communications, PNT, astronaut safety, fuel, guidance and much more. Those critical elements require protection to ensure the continued safe passage of spacecraft beyond Earth orbit and that space lines of communication remain open for all. Space is a strategic domain for geopolitical competition. Satellites in LEO are already targets and there is no reason to believe that cislunar or interplanetary infrastructure will be immune from malicious attacks. Building an internet on the moon or Mars should include minimum cybersecurity and encryption standards that are created at the design phase. Further, redundant capabilities to monitor the physical state of space infrastructure for physical on-orbit attacks. How we as a space community will handle this build will depend on our ability to make a transition from abstraction to reality.Abstraction to realityHumanity is unfamiliar with a sustained human presence in space and is unaccustomed to constant flights beyond Earth orbit. Those issues sit at the core of the space critical infrastructure discussion. For decades, the idea of lunar mining or a human presence on Mars was abstract in the extreme; perhaps entertaining as science fiction but not something that space experts and planners needed to worry about. In the past few years, the idea of space critical infrastructure has been mired in the “space as critical infrastructure” concept. Abstraction prevented us from thinking about critical infrastructure in space outside of how space assets contribute to Earth critical infrastructure. In 2025, what once was abstract will be much clearer, and it requires action. Plans for Marslink and LunaNet, even though they are at this point only plans, represent the first moves toward establishing critical infrastructure in space that is specifically designed to enable space activities beyond LEO. This infrastructure will exist to provide communications, PNT and astronaut safety services to multiple missions beyond Earth orbit by multiple spacefaring entities. These will be the first example of actual space critical infrastructure with more to follow as these missions get closer to launch. Rather than viewing space critical infrastructure through the lens of terrestrial critical infrastructure because it is less abstract, space policymakers must refocus on the coming construction of actual critical infrastructure in space. As I’ve argued in the past, this shift is important for the development of the space economy and to ensure the safety of those missions that cross beyond Earth orbit. Protecting critical infrastructure is an imperative we recognized on Earth many years ago, and 2025 is the year we need to recognize the same imperative in space. We now have examples of what space critical infrastructure will look like and what services it might provide to future cislunar and interplanetary spacecraft and astronauts. Building a space critical infrastructure model that reflects the requirements of activities in space — and those beyond LEO — is no longer an abstract concept, it is one on which the future successes of cislunar and interplanetary missions will depend.The new United States presidential administration has an opportunity. The new National Space Council (NSpC) can build on the existing body of space policy and create a model for space critical infrastructure that reflects what is being built. Even by designating communications and PNT in space as critical infrastructure not under the terrestrial model but under a space-centric model, it can set up the security regime that will protect this vital infrastructure as it is being built and deployed. Ensuring the security of these capabilities in space is the best way to ensure their continued use and the creation of new infrastructure to sustain human presence on the moon and beyond. The technology is emerging from abstraction, and our policies must also emerge before the absence of policy creates avoidable problems. Nick Reese is the co-founder and COO of Frontier Foundry and an adjunct professor at the NYU Center for Global Affairs. He is the former Director of Emerging Technology Policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security where he led space policy efforts for the department and advised the White House on space policy issues.SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community’s diverse perspectives. Whether you’re an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to [email protected] to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. The perspectives shared in these op-eds are solely those of the authors.