Space Dominance and Exploration Infrastructure

Space Dominance and Exploration Infrastructure is R&D investment in space contributing to "both civilian and defense mission needs" with priorities including "ambitious targets that unlock new mission capabilities, enable discoveries, and achieve exploration goals" such as "building capacity for human missions to the moon and Mars." Specific priorities identified by OMB include "human space exploration and development, including long-duration travel and habitation, in-space aggregation and assembly, local resource utilization, space weather hazard prediction and mitigation, space nuclear power systems and biotechnologies for space applications."

National security R&D focuses on "basic and applied research to unlock currently untenable and transformative space capabilities, including novel sensing modalities, accurate forecasting of the space and near-Earth environment, radiation belt remediation, high-precision chip-scale frequency standards, and advanced power and propulsion systems." The memorandum emphasizes leveraging "new business models and cost constructs enabled by commercial space capabilities." Ground infrastructure supporting these missions—proliferated ground stations, distributed telemetry networks, space situational awareness systems, and high-bandwidth satellite gateways—qualifies for BEAD Supporting Funds as dual-use space-terrestrial integration infrastructure. States can position ground station networks and satellite gateway infrastructure as serving both commercial broadband delivery and national space programs, multiplying investment value.