Buzz Aldrin has repeatedly stated that the U.S. needs to send a manned mission to Mars. (Photo: Aldrin)
President Donald Trump wants the Department of Defense to create a sixth military branch: the United States Space Force. The U.S. Space Force would take on tasks that NASA doesn’t have the funding or mission reach to accomplish.
“We are going to have the Space Force,” said Trump.
Trump said that he wants to “be the leader by far” in spacefaring and that the Space Force should be a branch equal to the other military branches. He pointed out that this is necessary to prevent “China and Russia and other countries leading us.”
He’s not alone. Trump is joined by Vice President Mike Pence, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and none other than Buzz Aldrin himself as leaders of his Space Council.
“Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White. “Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders.”
“Space is a warfighting domain, so it is vital that our military maintains its dominance and competitive advantage in that domain,” explained the White House in a statement.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is an outspoken opponent of the idea. “The president told a U.S. general to create a new Space Force as sixth branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want,” said Nelson on Twitter.
“Thankfully the President can’t do it without Congress because now is not the time to rip the Air Force apart,” said Nelson. “Too many important missions at stake.”
The ultimate goal of the Space Force is to return to the moon and eventually land people on Mars. A secondary, but perhaps more important mission, will be to police satellites and space junk.
The upper atmosphere and Earth orbits are cluttered with failing or spent satellites that pose a significant threat to modern working satellites.
See Also: New Trump Regs would Alleviate Costs for Gunsmiths and FFLs
If the U.S. has the ability to clean up this junk it will make the skies safe for future users. It also would put the U.S. in the secure position of being able to target potential enemy satellites.
Interestingly, the United States is a ratified member of the Outer Space Treaty. The U.S. signed the treaty in 1967.
Treaty members have agreed not to place military bases or practice military maneuvers in space. They are also prohibited from testing weapons of mass destruction in space. The treaty does not prohibit putting or using conventional weapons in space, however.
Trump criticized politicians for pushing NASA to the sidelines and cutting its budget. The Space Force would develop new guidelines for safe satellite designs and satellite and spacecraft collision avoidance.
“There’s no place like space,” said Trump.
this will be perfect to hasten the economic collapse of U.S.
I think President Trump is messing with NASA, I don’t think he believes we ever went to the moon and the future of NASA hinges on going “back” to the moon and establishing an orbital base. I watched the meeting and as predicted, NASA doesn’t want to waste its time returning to the moon but wants to go to mars.
Russian Federation has has Space Force since 2014, Trump is just trying to keep up. Difference is Russia Defence Ministry created cosmic by merging two other defence forces, efficiently eliminating duplication of effort and cost.
http://eng.mil.ru/en/structure/forces/cosmic.htm
Eventually, most of our GLOBAL THREATS will come from space or require us to inhabit space so it only makes sense that we have the upper hand when it comes to control, authority, finance, and military superiority of space.
While I am not in favor or having a military force in space I am very much in favor of restarting NASA and using military people to establish it and establish the rules and regulations and purpose for it’s existence. Namely the ability of traveling to and from space safely and economically, establish a base of operations on the moon, and the attempt to travel and eventually land and maybe even establish a base of operations on Mars!
Maybe we should fix what we have and leave space travel to the private sector. Space flight will be cheaper and just as safe. Our tax dollars could be better spent.
Cheaper and safer? In no known place in the universe are those two properties equal. They are inversely proportional; the less you spend, the less safe any given thing is. Quality and quality control are worth the investment.
As far as how taxes are spent, the government has an abysmal record when it comes to priority and benefit to the people in nearly every area except the military. The last administration tried to starve the defense of funding and look what it got us – more problems in the world dealing with Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan and a number of other bad actors in the world.
What the President is talking about is not space flight, it is about defending our part of the planet. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles have been a real threat since the 1950’s, and more malefactors in the world are beginning to acquire this technology/weaponry through the old sources of Russia and China and even North Korea is exporting their designs to Iran and it is only a matter of time before one gets into the hands of some non-state actor and they will use it. Every ICBM trajectory climbs to an altitude that is beyond our atmosphere and then arcs back toward the ground – this makes it a space weapon. By the time such a weapon is back into the atmosphere it is supersonic and as such very difficult to destroy before it achieves it’s objective. However, when it is at the top of the arc, it is moving much slower and can be dealt with safely above the atmosphere. The most effective defense would have to be based above the high point of the trajectory. This would be a defensive countermeasure to an ICBM and not an offensive weapon.
Other nations have other ideas about the military use of space, such as Russia and China. They both have projects to put weapons platforms in space aimed at their rivals on the ground and we happen to be on both of their lists. Unless we take action to prevent them from deploying orbiting weapons launch platforms we will eventually be looking down the barrel of one or more. This is what is prompting President Trump to create this 6th branch of military service, in order to protect America from future attack by those who would do us grave harm.
I don’t agree that safety comes cheap, or that the military is somehow incapable of or unworthy of the financial cost of defending our nation. That is the primary task of government – to protect the citizens.
And Dear Leader wants to replace Hail to the Chief with the Imperial March theme.
We already have the USAF Space Command, so why do we need another another military branch with all its bureaucracies, separate forms, regs, separate JAG units, etc? Sorry, but I’m not on board with this one Mr President
Every service has a Space component. The USAF constantly screws it up, putting fighter pilots in charge of it, so it is time for a big change. The only way to make it right is to separate all of the components from each of the services into one separate service.
BTW, Reagan almost did this in the mid-1980s, but then the Challenger exploded.
Well said.
Now Trump wants to take his lunacy to other planets? Did he misunderstand while someone was talking about taking babies from aliens? Rather than provide health care for all, let’s spend that money on a space force.
Obama and Pelosi gave us “health care for all” in 2010…are you saying they lied and the Affordable Care Act is a sham?
Healthcare does no good for the dead. This is a mission to deny control of space to the people who would not think twice about wiping you and I and everyone else living here off the face of the planet. They may not have that capability yet, but it is coming and once it is here your health is the last thing that will worry you.
Hell, let’s go!
Bull Nelson is a senile old Fud who needs to retire and let younger smarter Floridians do the job of protecting our rights and freedoms. Nelson has no concept of what our freedoms are and must always be, and that means a Right to bear Arms without interference by political hacks and Marxist judges and legislators. I’m sure the generals he has talked to are Russian or Chinese.
Wasn’t Nelson the POS who forced NASA to give him a ride in the Shuttle? Crony loser.
In 1988, as a House Budget committee member he was given the chance to fly aboard the Columbia. He basically made NASA an offer they couldn’t refuse – or have their funding cut. Of course that was not how it was reported. It also may be what got him into the Senate.
Or course our existing generals do not want it, as it means more power sharing. We really need to revamp this kind of outdated thinking. I think it is a great idea.
It is an idea whose time has come. Making it a military operation cuts NASA out of the program, and that is a good thing because NASA is not set up to handle defense. We need a response to what other nations are planning. We have known for some time that Russia and China have plans for space based weapons. China being a newcomer to the space flight game are already running their space program as a part of their military, as has Russia since the days of the USSR and the space race.