Inside today’s Daily Journal…

Editor’s note: Today, Porter turns the Journal over to Jeff Brown – tech visionary and growth analyst of Brownstone Research… Jeff has been at the forefront of every major technological development of the past decade, accurately predicting the future time and time again.

Here, he talks about U.S. efforts to get to Mars.

In a few hours, the first crewed spacecraft in more than 50 years will depart for the moon…

Artemis II will be the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972, ending a decade of lunar exploration. But the Artemis trip is only the beginning of what we have in front of us in terms of getting humans into space.

In 1962 the U.S. was in a brutal face-off with Russia as its primary adversary, a country that was demonstrating impressive progress with its space program.

The Soviet Union had not only marked the beginning of the space age in 1957 with the successful launch of Sputnik 1, but it had also already put astronaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April 1961.

Russia had beaten the U.S. in putting the first satellite and man into outer space.

The threat of the Soviet Union being first to the moon was not only real. It was measurable given the rapid progress being made.

Gagarin’s successful orbit of Earth in April 1961 was the catalyst for a remarkable speech given by President John F. Kennedy before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.

On May 25, 1961, before Congress, Kennedy spoke of the critical juncture the U.S. space program found itself in, what the country needed to do about it, and why it must be unified in its mission.

It was a remarkable speech at a remarkable time… Kennedy said:

There was no ambiguity in JFK’s message: The U.S. must put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. JFK went on:

JFK even went further afield, suggesting an even-more-ambitious exploration of space…

Of course, we know how the story ended.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made it to the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, and successfully returned to Earth… indeed, before the end of that decade.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of JFK’s proclamation to go to the moon – and how it ignited the nation in a unified mission to beat the Soviet Union – when I was watching President Trump’s inauguration speech in January 2025. He said…

Yes. We’re going to Mars…

And we’re going a lot sooner than most people think.

As we are seeing with tonight’s launch, NASA’s Artemis program to return to the moon is already well-established and moving forward.

And while the new missions to the moon will be more significant than those during the Apollo program – and lay the foundation for a permanent presence on the lunar surface – it’s something that the U.S. had already done in 1969.

Mars is as grand a vision today as the moon was back in the 1960s. It’s our nearest planet capable of supporting a manned outpost, and – at least in the short term – the human race’s best option for becoming a multi-planetary species.

If we care about the long-term survival of the human race, there is nothing more important for us to achieve.

Ironically, President Trump’s proclamation comes with more certainty than President JFK’s plans to go to the moon. The advancements in not just aerospace technology, but any technology related to space exploration have been remarkable in the last five decades.

And of course, there is one company at the forefront of it all: The most innovative aerospace company in history, the one that will make the president’s vision of planting a U.S. flag on Mars a reality… That company is SpaceX.

It would be logical to assume discussions with SpaceX founder Elon Musk had some influence on such an ambitious national goal. SpaceX has transformed the industry and dominates in both launch capacity and number of successful missions to Earth’s orbit. There is no company or country even close.

And it’s the rapid improvements and development of the SpaceX Starship that are key to making it to Mars.

On January 16, 2025, SpaceX launched its seventh test launch of a Starship. The media, as usual, was highly critical, as the Starship itself blew up before reaching orbit.

Musk and his team were quick to determine the likely cause:

But the test launch was still impressive, nonetheless. SpaceX was able to return the first-stage booster to the pad, with another picture-perfect catch by the Mechazilla.

There have been subsequent tests – the most recent one being in October 2025. All these launches are leading to improvements, as SpaceX had a complete redesign of the avionics, a redesign in the propulsion system, and new feedline systems for the Raptor engines. There have been major upgrades to the Starship.

And as we saw in Musk’s comment above, the plan is to learn, to make further improvements. The point isn’t perfection. It’s to push the boundaries, test capabilities, and improve rapidly on a short feedback loop.

One of the key reasons SpaceX can innovate so quickly is the rapid iterations of its technology.

And now speed is more important than ever before.

While President Trump didn’t give any specific timeline for planting a flag on Mars, planetary alignments define Mars launch “windows.”

These windows are critically important, as they only arrive every 26 months.

They represent the optimal time to launch – that which requires the least amount of fuel and travel time to reach the red planet.

The next windows are:

Four dates in the next four years.

Musk has long stated the goal to send uncrewed Starships to Mars in the November and December windows later this year.

Given Trump’s proclamation, this presents an opportunity to include payloads on those Starships – to send materials in advance of a crewed mission.

If the Starships successfully land, this would be an incredible asset for future crewed missions.

Success in 2026 could make a December 2028 or January 2029 launch of a crewed mission possible.

And if that doesn’t happen, early 2032 would be an almost certainty.

It’s happening. We’re going to Mars!

It’s time to dream big again. It was this belief that prompted JFK’s “Why Go To the Moon?” speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962. It’s this speech that tends to be remembered the most, regarding the ambitions of the U.S. space program during the 1960s.

JFK’s vision inspired millions who wanted to pursue careers in science and engineering. I believe that Trump’s mission to Mars will do the same.

It’s time to dream big. It’s time to go to Mars.

Jeff Brown
Baltimore, Maryland

P.S. Jeff is expecting the biggest buying frenzy in history when SpaceX goes public – as early as this year. Elon Musk predicts SpaceX could turn each $100 invested into $100,000… In fact, this could be the biggest IPO in history.

You can get ahead of the crowd by claiming your stake today… starting with as little as $500. Learn how by going here.

Tell us what you think of today’s Journal: [email protected]

1. Rents are dropping, mortgage rates aren’t. National rents fell 1.7% in March – the 34th consecutive monthly decline. Rent is now cheaper than a mortgage payment in 50 of the largest U.S. cities. Buyers still need to earn $111,000 a year to purchase a typical home, compared to just $76,000 to rent. Mortgage rates will remain high throughout the year – so this trend is likely to continue.

2. Iran escalation clashes with Trump’s exit ramp. President Trump will address the nation tonight and is expected to announce an Iranian ceasefire request – which Iran has preemptively dismissed. In fact, the Iranian Republican Guard is not backing down: the nation’s fighting force named 18 U.S. tech firms – including Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Palantir, Boeing, and Tesla – as legitimate military targets, threatening their Persian Gulf facilities. Already today, Iran hit Amazon’s cloud infrastructure in Bahrain and a Qatar-chartered oil tanker, reinforcing its chokehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which Trump signaled must be re-opened or the U.S. will blast Iran “into the Stone Ages!”

3. Buffett says the market correction was “nothing.” Warren Buffett – speaking yesterday in his first on-camera interview since stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO – said he wasn’t impressed by the recent sell-off. Asked whether stocks look cheaper after the worst quarterly performance in four years, he was blunt: “No.” Buffett noted that he’s watched markets fall by more than 50% three separate times during his tenure at Berkshire, and the recent drawdown doesn’t move the needle. “We aren’t in it to make 5% or 6%,” he said. Buffett confirmed Berkshire will deploy cash if prices fall far enough to make businesses “attractive,” but for now, the company remains parked in $373 billion in T-bills and cash – a war chest built over 13 straight quarters of net selling.

Last year, Porter created the Better Than Berkshire tracking index to record the performance of a basket of publicly traded companies to replace same-sector private businesses in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Year to date (and since inception) Porter & Co.’s Better Than Berkshire has outperformed: showing a return of 4%, while Berkshire itself declined 4.9%.

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Chris D. writes:

Clayton H. writes:

Porter Comment: They’re not nearly that smart.

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