Update, August 9: Well, they did it. Today, the Trump Administration announced a goal of creating a Space Force by 2020. They'll need the support of Congress, of course, so expect the next two years of earnest debate about a sixth branch of the military that's named after what sounds like a forgettable '90s Saturday morning cartoon. Anyway, as always, our president took the time to pat himself on the back this morning.
Previously
On Monday, during a meeting of the National Space Council, President Trump announced an order to create a "Space Force." While Trump neglected to detail what exactly this sixth branch of the military would hope to accomplish outside of the implications of the name, this is something that Trump has been rallying for since earlier this year. If it goes through, this would be the first military branch created in 71 years, after the Air Force was created in 1947.
So what might be the implications of such an announcement? Are we going to Mars? Will Trump command a fleet of space ships and come to dominate the cosmos before any other space-faring nation can hope to lay claim to the resources of the infinite? The answers are, predictably, far more boring.
The Air Force Is Already The 'Space Force'
You might be surprised to know that in the time between Robert Goddard trying to harness explosions to send things into the sky, NASA sending men to walk on the Moon and GPS becoming something as mundane as AM radio that space has something the military has always had its eye on. The US, effectively, already has a "Space Force." It's called The Air Force Space Command. They have a website you can go to.
Formed in 1982, the Air Force Space Command was formed to initially oversee ICBM missile warning system, eventually moving towards more intelligence networks, electromagnetic spectrum management, as well as monitoring and protecting satellite communication and the GPS network.
Here's a summary from the Air Force themselves:
AFSPC acquires, operates and supports the Global Positioning System, Defense Satellite Communications Systems Phase III, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, Defense Support Program and the Space-Based Infrared System Program. AFSPC currently operates the Delta II, Delta IV and Atlas V launch vehicles. The Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles comprise the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, which is the future of assured access to space. AFSPC's launch operations include the Eastern and Western ranges and range support for all launches, including the space shuttle on the Eastern Range. The command maintains and operates a worldwide network of satellite tracking stations, called the Air Force Satellite Control Network, to provide communications links to satellites.
In short, the Air Force Space Command is there to make sure that no one is trying to crowd out the stuff that the US launches into space.
Predictably, The Air Force Isn't Too Excited About This
The genesis of Trump's "Space Force" stretches back to March when the president floated the idea in a speech about exploring Mars and going back to the Moon, ending on his belief that space is a "war-fighting domain," and that "we may even have a space force." In May, Trump brought up his "Space Force" idea again, this time in a talk to West Point football players.
While Trump's push for a new branch of the military started this year, it was already struck down last year. Last June, the Pentagon dismissed a House Armed Services bill that called for the creation of an armed service dedicated to space, on the grounds that it would needlessly complicate the military.
“The Pentagon is complicated enough,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters following her testimony in front of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart and cost more money. If I had more money, I would put it into lethality, not bureaucracy.”
While the Pentagon has yet to comment on Trump's "Space Force" intimations, and now orders, The Atlantic's Marina Koren lays out an argument that creation of a new branch of the military dedicated to space could upset the uneasy truce we have with other space-faring nations.
War in space, despite what the tone of some leaders may suggest, is not imminent. But peace, as in many places on Earth, is tenuous. While the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 bans the placement of weapons of mass destruction in Earth’s orbit, there’s no comprehensive treaty on the use of space weapons, nor any international agreement on what, exactly, a space weapon would be. If fighting breaks out, it would unfold in the mess of hundreds of communications, navigation, weather, and reconnaissance satellites on which society depends in countless ways. Infrastructure could crumble without a single shot fired.
This Is All Wilbur Ross's Doing
Of course, this isn't because Trump has some fascination will building out his own fleet of interstellar battleships — it's because our commerce secretary Wilbur Ross has one. Ross, if you'll remember, spearheaded the effort to re-establish the National Space Council last year.
So what interest would our commerce secretary have in exploring the cosmos?
The day after Trump was lecturing college football players about how they're going to be joining the "Space Force," Ross was found ranting about the important of the "Space Force" at, of all things, a cocktail party honoring a Qatari ambassador.
“I’m intrigued with the notion that the man in the moon is pretty soon going to be a gas station attendant,” Ross said.
He also predicted a huge increase in asteroid mining, which Ross explained is quite different than the terrestrial mining he had experience with in the past. All the very valuable minerals – gold, silver, platinum, rare minerals — are right on the surface, said Ross.
“Somebody just has to scoop them off. You just have to get there. That’s going to be a big activity,” he said.
Money. The answer is money.
