WASHINGTON, D.C., May 18, 2026 — The Commercial Space Federation (CSF), in partnership with Rational Futures (RF), announced the release of SCRUBBED: America’s Launch Capacity Challenge, a data-driven assessment of potential U.S. launch demand and challenges at existing spaceports and launch infrastructure. With over 180 launches from U.S. soil in 2025, launch capacity at existing launch sites is already strained by licensing, facilities, and government processes on the ground. Accompanying the report, CSF makes recommendations to improve U.S. launch infrastructure to meet this growing demand.
The report will be briefed on Tuesday, May 19, at the CSF Space Policy Summit at ASCEND, with the full public release on Tuesday, May 26..
Authored by Rational Futures — whose team includes former NASA Chief Economist Dr. Akhil Rao, former NASA Senior Policy Advisor Dr. Tom Colvin, and other veterans of the public and private space sectors — the report draws on Federal Communications Commission regulatory filings, government budget data, and orbital mechanics modeling to construct three demand scenarios and assess launch capacity for each.
As CSF president Dave Cavossa noted, “This report and its findings come at an important time as the Trump Administration is considering a refresh of the National Space Transportation Policy and a dramatic increase in investment in U.S. commercial launch infrastructure”.
