SPACE WAR: Trump UNLEASHES 'space technology' on Iran

Welcome back. The global battlefield is expanding beyond the land, sea and air, now in the far reaches of outer space. American forces have used technology in space to destroy Iran's military infrastructure during Operation Epic Fury, while tracking and shooting down retaliatory missiles. The New York Post reports, space forces, infrared beams, track the missiles the second they launch via the heat they create. Crews work inside radar domes called radomes, resembling giant golf balls.

They receive information in the sky in real time, calculate the trajectory of missiles and therefore their likely destination and act accordingly. Joining me now with more of this is the man of the hour, NASA Administrator Jared Isakman. Jared, welcome back. It's good to see you this morning. We so appreciate your time.

Oh, it's great to be back.

We've talked in the past about space being a major national security issue and we need to protect it. Give us your take on specifically how space is involved in this particular fight and the battle on Iran.

Absolutely. And you I mean space is the the ultimate high ground right. President Trump certainly knows this. It's why he created the Space Force during his first term. It's why he created the Artemis program which is kind of on the peaceful civil side of space

which is my responsibility at NASA that's America's moon rocket behind us right now, but you're absolutely spot on the assets we have in space the satellites that are there for observation for communication. I mean these are the capabilities that are identifying the rocket launches that are communicating to our forces and give America an extreme edge in this conflict.

Yeah. And, you know, that's why we worry so much about protecting space, because we know that that's where our satellites are. And an adversary would want to take down our satellite, to shut the lights, certainly, on Earth and impact America. Have we seen evidence of an adversary

trying to mess with any of our satellites?

Well, there's no question about it. Again, this is why President Trump created the Space Force, is because this is one of the most important technological domains, and it is no longer secure. I mean, our adversaries have capabilities in space that can that can threaten our assets. Now we of course have our our assets in space that can counter some of that. It's also why the high ground of space keeps

getting higher. The satellites initially in low Earth orbit are closer to Earth. They're probably a lot more vulnerable to the satellites we have in in geostationary orbit. But now this is why CIS lunar space is important. You get higher up, you can still look down on Earth. You have some greater freedom of maneuverability the farther away you get. This is kind of the reality of the new space race.

So what does the US need to do right now then, Jared? I mean, when you look at the national security stakes, whether it be lunar dominance, satellite protection, space supply chains, what are you most focused on and what does the United States now need to do to protect that space?

Well my first day on the job, I'm in the Oval Office as President Trump signs America's space policy, America for superiority in space. Now my responsibility is on the, again the civil, peaceful side to it. What are we doing about it? We're returning to the moon. We're returning to the moon and we're going to stay.

We're going to build a lunar base. And next up is Artemis 2, which is America's moon rocket. It's right behind me. 8.8 million pounds of thrust. We're going to send four astronauts around the moon in a matter of weeks safely back to Earth.

And then we're going to set up for missions every year again in 27 until 28 when we land on the moon. We're doing the other things we're going nuclear power and propulsion in space. So someday you can see American astronauts plant the stars and stripes on Mars. So this is kind of our role that we fulfill here at NASA.

out farther into space as NASA kind of leads the way.

propulsion comment that you just made, but you've been referencing Artemis behind you. What do we need to understand about Artemis, Jared? What do you want to tell us about Artemis? Do we want the camera to widen out or go closer to show us specifically what you're referring to? Okay, well, what's most important about Artemis is it's a program that lives on beyond any one rocket. You know President Trump wants to make sure that we pick up where Apollo 17 left off. We are not just going back to the moon to plant the flag and bring home rocks and leave the footsteps but to build an enduring presence on the moon a moon base where we can realize the

scientific economic national security value on the moon to be a proving ground to test out the capabilities for someday when America's journey takes us to Mars. So this is the opening episode but you're going to start seeing moon launches to the moon almost on a monthly cadence. A lot of uncrewed vehicles are going to go there as we start to build out the moon base. You're going to see crude vehicles with astronauts going at some point every year, eventually getting down to six months. Vehicle architecture will change until you've got repeatable, affordable missions going

to and from the moon. And you make such an important point in terms of the U.S. picking up the pace of all of this as China is trying to win here as well. The Financial Times article, Jana Robinson writes this, one of the next contested space portfolios is not in the realm of rockets, lunar landers or satellite constellations. It is embedded in the often overlooked ground game of infrastructure projects, long-term

partnering agreements. Not surprisingly, the culprits here, the two authoritarian space powers, China and Russia, what can you tell us?

Well, I absolutely think the nations that are taking on the big, bold, grand endeavors and actually achieving them is how they're pursuing national security objectives. When America returns to the moon, builds a moon base that you know returning to the moon this time to stay it sends a message it sends a message to every one of our adversaries are geopolitical rivals around the world of what we're capable of doing sends a message what

we're capable of doing across every one of the most important emerging technological domains I will tell you it is absolutely a race right now. Success and failure on the moon is going to be measured in months, not years. When will the U.S. have the capability to defend or even repair satellites in space? Well, I'd say we have demonstration missions, again, on the kind of peaceful civil side for doing on orbit. Boosting of satellites on orbit refueling of satellites in fact

our entire lunar strategy with our 2 moon partners that are building our lunar landers spacex and blue origin incorporate some degree of on orbit assembly on orbit cryogenic prop transfer these are going to be game shape game changing capabilities for the United States. So we are moving in that direction for sure.

All right, look, without giving anything away, obviously we want to be careful here, but do you believe that our satellites are vulnerable to cyber or kinetic attack?

I 100% believe that our adversaries around the world understand how important the high ground of space is and what our satellites are capable of doing, again, from an observation and communication perspective, and they are doing everything they can to try and challenge it. That's where President Trump's golden dome comes in. We're building out even bigger constellations of satellites.

We're going higher. We're going into cislunar space. We're sending American astronauts back to the moon to build a moon base. So there's no doubt our adversaries are trying to counter our capabilities

in space. But this is why President Trump signs a national space policy calling for the continuation of American superiority in the high ground of space.

Yeah, I mean, that was so smart of President Trump to do that in his first term and then ramp it up in his next term. I want to get back to what we're doing in the war on Iran because you just mentioned nuclear propulsion. And I spoke with Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina on Sunday.

Listen to what he said.

Watch this. We now know they had enough 60 percent enriched uranium to make 11 bombs. What's that worth to America to make sure they don't have 11 bombs? All of this money is to make sure they never go nuclear, they can't hit us with ballistic missiles and they stop terrorizing the region. When this regime goes down, we're going to have a new Mideast. We're going to make a ton of money.

Nobody will threaten the Straits of Hormuz again. But Donald J. Trump saved the world from real chaos. Whitkoff, the negotiator, was told by the Iranians openly that they have stockpiled enough 60 percent enriched uranium, 460 kilograms, to make 11 bombs. Thank God Trump did this. Can you imagine a year from now?

What would it cost America if Iran had 11 nuclear bombs to threaten us? They would hold us hostage.

We would be held hostage in perpetuity by this terrorist regime. So Jared, I go back to what you said about nuclear and propulsion. Is nuclear propulsion critical for national security when it comes to things like this conflict we're in right now?

Yeah, well, I just want to say, even though I'm here in my NASA capacity, I 100 percent agree with President Trump, Senator Graham, in that respect, you absolutely can never let a country where they chant death to America have nuclear weapons and highly enriched uranium. You don't even need to use that material to make a bomb. You can simply scatter that material and you can create radiological issues for lots of people and shut down entire areas of land that might

not be inhabitable for a very long period of time. It's completely unacceptable for them to ever have that capability. Now you know nuclear power is immensely important for civil applications for peaceful exploration in space. You've got industry like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Firefly, all these companies, ULA building chemical rockets.

They can send you someplace within our solar system on a one-way journey. What do you do when you wanna go back and forth? That's where you kinda have the, you know, the interplanetary railroad, if you will, which is nuclear power and propulsion tugs,

allows you to move lots of mass from Earth to Mars for example and then you can also bring that nuclear power down to the surface you can make propellant so when one day American astronauts arrive on Mars they actually can manufacture the propellant that's going to be necessary to come home to Earth and tell us all about it.

But you know I mean I guess what I'm worried about and our viewers have worried about is China being complicit. I mean, aren't China and Russia right now using their space assets to assist Iran in this fight and identify our forces for targeting?

Well, I certainly can't go into that. I mean, that's for the DOW and the intelligence community to talk about. What I will say, at least in the peaceful world of space exploration, Russia and China have already announced and announced actually long ago

collaboration on nuclear power on the moon, on the far side in the shaded, in the South Pole, to build a nuclear power plant alongside a research station. It's also why President Trump and his American Space Superior executive order said America needs to build nuclear power and propulsion

in space to enable Mars but also to enable our base on the moon as a proving ground for

future missions farther into the solar system. So so bottom line is space becoming the next battlefield and is America ready for that?

it's why my first day in the job president It's why he created the Artemis Accords. And it's why on my first day in the job, President Trump signed the executive order on American superiority in space.

And should we be relying on private companies? I mean, Jared, talk to us about SpaceX helping in this assist in terms of critical

national security infrastructure. Well, I would say that America right now has the healthiest, most competitive launch industry in the history of America's space program. We have SpaceX for sure. We have Blue Origin.

We have Rocket Lab, Firefly, ULA. But when you talk about SpaceX specifically, if we did not have their reusable rockets, their rockets that return to Earth, land on ships, we would be falling behind our adversary, China, in terms of orbital launches every year. The capabilities they give us, and now Blue Origin has reusable rockets, that is the difference

between who can put mass up in orbit, and that's your observation satellites, those are your communication satellites, those are the capabilities right now that are making the difference in the Iranian conflict.

So do you believe that China is trying to plant the first permanent base on the moon? And what does that mean if it were to do that?

I 100% believe we are in a race right now against China. And the difference between success and failure is months. If we come up short, China will get there. They will get to the moon before America had a chance to return and they will start building a base exactly where we want to be on the South Pole. They've already stated this. It's why we can't lose. We can't fall behind. It's why I'm here right now with America's moon rocket. We're upping the cadence. We're going to go from

launching this thing every three years. We're going to try and launch it every year. We're working alongside our partners at SpaceX and Blue Origin, Boeing and Lockheed to get on the game, start moving very fast, launch moon rockets, return to the moon, build the base.

Jared, what a background you have to be in this role now, a private astronaut, billionaire entrepreneur, SpaceX mission commander, now running NASA. This is an amazing position that you find yourself in. What's your number one priority right now, Jared?

Oh, there's no question. I am grateful to be here. I'm working alongside the best and brightest. I mean, you have some of the smartest talent, engineering might from America that converges here at NASA to do the near impossible, you know what is my greatest

priority what's keeping me up at night, making sure we can deliver on president Trump's national space policy return Americans to the moon build the moon base establish that enduring presence for again all that we may learn knowledge is power in space and it's going to be our stepping stone to getting to Mars someday.

So I do you believe that NASA is still a science agency or do you believe that NASA is now part of America's strategic deterrent in orbit.

Well the answer is both. So of course we're still all about science and discovery we have been since the beginning of the space program. Our telescopes that are out there, Hubble, James Webb, our rovers that are on Mars right now, I mean, knowledge is power, and we want to make sure every breakthrough

that's going to change the world in space exploration and discovery is making its way through NASA. That said, do we have a national security mission? You bet we do. Again, 1969, July 20th, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin on the moon.

We did the near impossible. It sends a message to the entire world. What else is America capable of doing? We're going to do it again in the years ahead under President Trump's leadership.

Wow, Jared, this is all very exciting. A little scary, but very exciting nonetheless. We, of course, and all of our viewers are wishing you the best of luck. Good to see you this morning, sir, thank you.

Good to see you as well, thank you.

All right, Jared Isaacman joining us at the Kennedy Space Center. at the Kennedy Space Center.

We'll be right back.