Earlier this week, President Trump announced the creation of a new branch of the U.S. military, a so-called “Space Force.” While those of us looking forward to the creation of Starfleet from “Star Trek” might have been mildly disappointed with the name, the creation of the U.S. Space Force is nonetheless an interesting opportunity to examine what works and what doesn’t when it comes to giant leaps for mankind.

There are two directions the Space Force could go: in the first direction, the private sector competes to develop products that are of interest not only to the military, but also to ordinary consumers. We’ve seen this in several applications from space travel in the last century: everything from baby formula to CAT scans to solar panels came from private sector development. Yes, they were at first connected to the space program, but the profit motive and shareholder accountability of U.S. companies drove a consumer-friendly competition to bring these things to the common man. There is no doubt that future research and development in space technology, in concert with ruthless free-market competition to adapt these technologies to profit-making ventures, will also help raise the standard of living in even the poorest families.