US President Donald Trump gives a thumb’s up as he arrives for the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to “plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars” but made no mention of NASA’s planned return to the Moon, heightening speculation about his space strategy.

During his first term, the Republican launched the Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon as a stepping stone to the Red Planet — yet even then he expressed doubts about the Moon’s necessity.

“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” he said in his inauguration speech at the US Capitol in Washington, remarks unlikely to quell the idea he wants to skip the Moon.

In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, October 17, the Ayala-led bank said its net income expanded by 24.3 percent to P48 billion.

By the closing bell, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) shed 0.26 percent, or 19.31 points, to 7,437, snapping a two-session winning streak.

READ: Trump returns to power after unprecedented comeback

Trump is thought to be joined in his desire by his close ally and Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, who envisages colonizing Mars with the help of his prototype rocket Starship.

Musk retweeted a clip of himself raising two thumbs up, grinning, and clapping wildly as Trump made his remarks.

“We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction,” Musk wrote on X earlier this month.

Such a shift would be seismic for a program projected to cost over $90 billion.

READ: Trump rips into the country’s past leaders and makes sweeping promises

It is also likely to meet stiff opposition in the US Congress, where both Republicans and Democrats have an interest in preserving jobs in their constituencies linked to exploring the Moon.

Much of this revolves around the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s heavy-lift rocket with contractors and suppliers spread across the country.

China, meanwhile, has set its sights on landing in the lunar south pole by 2030, a move the United States is unlikely to let go unchallenged.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.

On the other handlucky time, the next NASA chief is slated to be Jared Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut who has had business dealings with SpaceX, raising questions of possible conflicts-of-interest.

• to
• Trump
• vows
• lucky time
• Plant