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Trump signs order to create "Space Force"
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2019-02-21 at 8:12 PM UTC
The Space Force just took a big step from sci-fi-sounding dream toward reality.
https://www.space.com/president-trump-space-force-directive.html
President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4) today (Feb. 19), ordering the Pentagon to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States military, to go along with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
But the Space Force still has a big hoop to jump through: Congress must approve the creation of any new military branch. [What Is the U.S. Space Force?]
The main goal of the Space Force is to secure and extend American dominance of the space domain, Trump and other White House officials have said. Such reasoning has drawn opposition from various quarters.
"President Trump has called space a new warfighting domain. Space is important to militaries, that’s true, but it is only a small piece of what happens up there," Laura Grego, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security program, said in a statement today.
"Eighty percent of the nearly 2,000 satellites are civilian, providing critical communications and economic services for humanity’s well-being," Grego added. "We need to take care of space. If concentrating authority in a space force creates an incentive for nations to build space weapons that increase the likelihood of conflict, it would be a profoundly bad idea."
The Space Force would initially reside within the Department of the Air Force, much as the Marine Corps is part of the U.S. Navy.
“If enacted, it will be our responsibility to deter and defeat threats in space through the U.S. Space Force, which will organize, train, and equip military space forces,” Air Force officials told Space.com in an emailed statement. “It will be our obligation to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces.”
But Trump administration officials have said they eventually aim to push the Space Force out from under the Air Force's wings and make it a stand-alone organization.
President Trump first teased the idea of a Space Force in March 2018, in comments that made it seem like he might have been joking. But the president signed an executive order directing the creation of the new branch that June.
Many details about the Space Force — exactly how much it might cost, for example — remain unclear.
As its name suggests, SPD-4 is President Trump's fourth space policy directive. The first SPD directed NASA to get humans back to the moon as a stepping-stone to Mars. The second streamlined regulations for the commercial space sector, and the third dealt with management of space traffic.
This story was updated at 4 p.m. EST to include a statement from the Air Force.
Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate) is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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EDIT: eventually Haiti will have their own Space Force, and we'll give them the latest weapons technology to use for it. -
2019-02-21 at 8:47 PM UTCThis is awesome!
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2019-02-21 at 11:41 PM UTCTrumpisms
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2019-02-21 at 11:49 PM UTCSeems logical, but of course if DRUMPF tries to do it hoardes of idiots will oppose it anyway.
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2019-02-22 at 12:49 AM UTCthat nigga aint been fuckin up any worser that any nigga afore him
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2019-02-22 at 1:07 AM UTCyeah it's not enough to be able to blow *hit up on earth. they have to take it into space too.
whoo-hoo! "hey sam watch me blast that asteroid from here." 😏 -
2019-02-22 at 2:08 AM UTCplayingindirt on niggasin.space,,, whats the world come to folks,,
Fuck Bitch you may as well post ur Rack as long as ur slummin ol girl -
2019-02-22 at 2:31 AM UTCI'm seriously thinking of starting to smoke pot again, GO SPACE FORCE!!
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2019-02-22 at 6:28 AM UTCSure, fuck it, why not? Murdering people on land and at sea is the same as murdering them in space. At least space wars is new and kinda cool sounding.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
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2019-02-22 at 6:44 AM UTCmostly just bluster around fear of ASAT weapons.
I suspect it's received (((popular backing))) because it has the potential to foment a new type of arms race -
2019-02-22 at 6:50 AM UTCin another news, a new kosher lunar probe thing was launched just now.
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2019-02-22 at 6:52 AM UTC
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2019-02-22 at 1:14 PM UTCDropping and giving 20 should be much easier in Zero G.
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2019-02-22 at 1:18 PM UTC
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2019-02-22 at 1:22 PM UTCJeez, that's going to be a great pickup line in the bars..."Oh you're a waitress? I'm a motherfucking Space Captain"
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2019-02-22 at 2:26 PM UTCThe dominance over space, wasn’t or isn’t starting with Trump.
It started years ago— with Americans being the first man to walk on the moon. It was a race between us and the russians years ago... like it ever stopped. nope. I’m all for it— and for the Americans having all and complete, military, dominance...over everything.👍🏻 -
2019-02-22 at 2:34 PM UTC
Originally posted by Firekrochfatty The dominance over space, wasn’t or isn’t starting with Trump.
It started years ago— with Americans being the first man to walk on the moon. It was a race between us and the russians years ago… like it ever stopped. nope. I’m all for it— and for the Americans having all and complete, military, dominance…over everything.👍🏻
America doesn't really have dominance over space anymore...they don't even have a manned space program at the moment (that's actively sending men into space..or women).
The Chinese are on it...they have just completely the first trip to the moon (and back) in 40yrs...and they also have all the parts to build a lunar module on ebay with free shipping.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2019-02-22 at 2:40 PM UTC
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2019-02-22 at 2:44 PM UTC
Originally posted by Lanny Sure, fuck it, why not? Murdering people on land and at sea is the same as murdering them in space. At least space wars is new and kinda cool sounding.
In space it's not murder as no country has jurisdiction over space.
The best way to get away with "murder" on live TV currently is to kill another astronaut while you're both in space on an EVA. -
2019-02-22 at 3:04 PM UTC
Originally posted by Firekrochfatty The dominance over space, wasn’t or isn’t starting with Trump.
Militarisation of space largely came into focus under Obongo as a result of the Anti-Ballistic Missile push and Chinese/Russian development of ASAT (Anti Satellite) missiles. The 'space race' and militarisation are two separate topics.
In terms of ABMs, several countries that do not fall under US hegemony have developed classes ICBMs and SLBMs that cannot feasibly, let alone reliably, be intercepted by western missile defences, so space-based platforms are being considered logical progression.
In terms of ASATs, it would be trivial for Russia or China to destroy the GPS network in case of serious conflict, and the result would be that US (and much of Europe, israel etc. because they inherited the same operational paradigms) forces would be thrown into disarray - many munitions such as cruise missiles and attack drones would be either completely unusable or have their capabilities hamstrung.
As I mentioned earlier, the primary goal is another arms race. Defensive anti-missile systems (and the inevitable offensive systems, like the old 'Rods from God' design) would have to be designed from the ground up, opening entire new markets and supply chains for weapons contractors, regardless of the extent that adversaries participate.
Originally posted by Firekrochfatty I’m all for it— and for the Americans having all and complete, military, dominance…over everything.👍🏻
The world is shifting - the only reason that the US got into the position of hegemon was that they entered into WWII after every other major industrial country had its industrial capacity and population decimated. In short, other countries have now caught up and the shift to a multipolar world is inevitable. The wise thing to do would be to prepare for that world, but the US leadership is instead trying to thrash against it... It's just going to make the fall all the more brutal.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
