Now just what will this elite Space Force actually do?
“Space is the world’s newest war-fighting domain,” President Trump said during the signing ceremony. “Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital. And we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough. But very shortly we’ll be leading by a lot.”
The idea was widely mocked when it was first floated, providing fodder for late night hosts, newspaper cartoonists and comedy writers. Senior military officials have previously raised concerns about what it will cost, and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned against rushing into creating the force without clearly defined goals.
“This is not a farce. This is nationally critical,” Gen. John Raymond, who will lead the Space Force, told reporters on Friday. “We are elevating space commensurate with its importance to our national security and the security of our allies and partners.”
I have had a problem with this decision from the beginning….for one there is the cost to the taxpayer in a era of tax cuts and increased spending….second then there is the Area Of Operation (AOR)……does anyone realize just how massive that would be?
It is a BAD IDEA!
One of the distinguishing characteristics of space is that it has no natural boundaries and is inherently international. With the exception of satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), all satellites pass over various parts of the Earth’s surface every day. This physical feature of the domain has led to a unique international approach to space missions, as any country’s satellites have free rights of passage over other nations’ territories. Furthermore, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which the United States has ratified, states that “outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States” and that “outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” From the outset, the international community realized that unlike the air, sea, and land domains where countries can claim sovereign areas, the space domain is inherently international.
So why did the US military re-establish Space Command as a geographic command if there are no distinct territories or regions in space?
Not to worry…today will be a short day since Christmas Eve is all about prep for the Big Day…..
I may be one of the few bloggers that are keeping an eye on the news about a new military service, the Space Force. Many Americans are not paying attention but they will when this new force starts siphoning off funds that should go to our society to help make it strong.
In an age when tax cuts deplete the treasury quicker than in the past it would be smart to make sure this thing does not grow out of control as the DoD has done since WW2.
That said the question is….”Does America Need a Space Force?
My opinion is NO way….but there are others that have an opinion….
How quickly the Space Force develops will depend in part on the outcome of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which in the short term at least is focused on parallel proposals to create a “space corps” in the House or a “space command” in the Senate under the supervision of the Air Force, which may or may not be a stepping stone towards a full-fledged Space Force.
As members of the Center for International Policy’s Sustainable Defense Task Force, we have strongly urged that a Space Force not be created, because it is likely to increase bureaucratic waste, encourage the development of costly and unworkable high-tech weapons systems, and to focus attention on the further militarization of space rather than how best to cooperatively manage the risks to America’s civilian and military space assets. It is also likely to be costly—recent reporting by Bloombergindicates even the limited Space Development Agency would cost nearly $11 billion over the next 5 years.
Defense One and I are in agreement…maybe not for the same reason but they say we do not need…I agree…..
But there are others that have opinions on this….
The war of words over how to organize the prospective space force is heating up as the likelihood of major change grows. The manner in which a space force is organized will entrench certain visions of the future over others. As I discuss in a recent report, much of the current upheaval stems from the jousting of six different schools of thought capturing different visions of what future wars will look like and the role of space in those wars. While no single person falls entirely within one school, by clarifying the distinctions between these schools, we can better understand the different visions of future war the various organizational schemes and their advocates seek to institutionalize.
After I wrote this draft it became official…Trump will get his Space Force…….
President Trump celebrated on Friday the launch of Space Force, the first new military service in more than 70 years, the AP reports. In signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes Space Force, Trump claimed a victory for one of his top national security priorities just two days after being impeached by the House. It is part of a $1.4 trillion government spending package—including the Pentagon’s budget—that provides a steady stream of financing for Trump’s US-Mexico border fence and reverses unpopular and unworkable automatic spending cuts to defense and domestic programs. “Space is the world’s new war-fighting domain,” Trump said Friday during a signing ceremony at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington. “Among grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital. And we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough, and very shortly we’ll be leading by a lot.”
Space Force has been a reliable applause line at Trump’s political rallies, but for the military it’s seen more soberly as an affirmation of the need to more effectively organize for the defense of US interests in space—especially satellites used for navigation and communication. Space Force is not designed or intended to put combat troops in space. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Friday, “Our reliance on space-based capabilities has grown dramatically, and today outer space has evolved into a warfighting domain of its own.” Maintaining dominance in space, he said, will now be Space Force’s mission. Instead of being its own military department, like the Navy, Army, and Air Force, the Space Force will be administered by the Secretary of the Air Force. Space Force will be the provider of forces to US Space Command, a separate organization established earlier this year as the overseer of the military’s space operations.
***This is a lot of information to digest but it will become more and more important in the coming years***
The weaponizing of space has begun for Trump has his funding to establish the “Space Force”…..
Congress has approved a compromise defense policy bill that creates a new Space Force in exchange for establishing paid parental leave for federal workers, as part of $738 billion for the Pentagon for 2020.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill Tuesday, 82-8, just days after the House passed it, 377-48. The bill now goes to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature, and he has signaled he will sign the defense policy measure.
(Military Times)
How much will the Repubs add to the deficit?
His Majesty’s new branch of the military, the Space Force, will do doing something that will violate a long standing treaty.
The Outer Space Treaty was considered by the Legal Subcommittee in 1966 and agreement was reached in the General Assembly in the same year ( resolution 2222 (XXI)). The Treaty was largely based on the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, which had been adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 1962 (XVIII) in 1963, but added a few new provisions. The Treaty was opened for signature by the three depository Governments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967. The Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law, including the following principles:
the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;
astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities;
States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.
Does anybody remember SDI? Too young?
Help is here.
Back in the day it was too expensive and nukes in space was unacceptable….well times change…..
There are some that see it as weaponizing space yet again…..
Donald Trump’s announcement of a “Space Force” is by no means a new idea. During the Reagan presidency, a similar idea was proposed in the form of the famous “Star Wars“ program, formally known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. It aimed to do away with the concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD) by positioning anti-ballistic-missile (ABM) interceptors in low-Earth orbit in order for them to be able to easily intercept ballistic missiles during their entry into orbit and before their re-entry phase. The costs and technology at the time proved prohibitive for the program, but military planners retained the dream of negating the concept of MAD in Washington’s favor, especially with the dawning of the unipolar era following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The decisions taken in the years since, such as the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty in 2002 during Bush’s presidency and from the INF Treaty during Trump’s, follows Reagan in trying to invalidate MAD, a balance of terror that has served to maintain a strategic stability.
Our circling satellites will be armed….say what? I thought they already were….or is that a secret?
the French government accused Russia of an “act of space espionage,” when Moscow’s signals-intelligence satellite Luch-Olymp was steered “a bit too closely” to France’s military communications satellite Athena-Fidus. “It got so close,” France’s Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly reportedly said at the time, “that we might have imagined it was trying to intercept our communications—trying to listen to your neighbors is not only unfriendly, it’s an act of espionage.”
Last week, Parly announced details of a new “defense space strategy” at the Lyon-Mont Verdun air defense operations base. “Having a reinforced space defense is absolutely essential,” she said, “it is our freedom of appreciation, access and action in space that is at stake.” France’s Le Pointreported that in the summer of 2019, space has finally become “a field of action.
Let’s not forget about the Air Force’s secret “space” plane, the X-37B…..
A Dutch skywatcher achieved a rare feat in late June and early July 2019. Using a 10-inch-diameter telescope fitted with a camera, Ralf Vandebergh photographed the U.S. Air Force’s secretive X-37B space plane in mid-mission 210 miles over Earth’s surface.
“We can recognize a bit of the nose, payload bay and tail of this mini-shuttle, with even a sign of some smaller detail,” Vandebergh told Space.com.
So what Reagan could not get done…..Supreme Leader Trump will make it a reality….weaponizing space.
The predecessors of Star Fleet, the US Space Command, is a mere weeks away from reality.
A new US Space Command will formally launch within weeks, the deputy commander of US Strategic Command told reporters July 31.
“I think it’d probably be about weeks—we should see the actual establishment of US Space Command,” Vice Adm. David Kriete said. “I think we’re on a good track in terms of our planning.”
Kriete said the timeline for launching the revived SPACECOM, which will take over responsibility for space combat operations from STRATCOM, will be at the discretion of new Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The Pentagon has not yet announced where SPACECOM headquarters will be, but its two major components will be located at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and Schriever AFB, Colo. The Senate recently confirmed Air Force Space Command boss Gen. Jay Raymond to lead the combatant command.
Reagan’s dream of the weaponization of space is near completion.
Now comes the war footing mindset….
Is the United States headed for war that begins in or extends into space? We should hope not. As Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein recently observed, “If a war actually starts in space, everybody loses.” But deterring conflict in space requires credible and effective responses to aggression. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Command, in partnership with industry, are developing options to field the sensors, shooters, and command and control nodes required to fight in, through, and from space by engaging targets. But the development of space-minded warfighters is the best way to make joint space operations more credible and responsive by both enabling and increasing the lethality of multidomain operations, or what the Joint Staff now calls “joint all-domain command and control.” The U.S. military needs to show commanders, partners, and potential adversaries that it can achieve objectives in any domain by executing all the steps needed to be able to take action in space when required. This requires a vastly different mindset than America’s historic focus in space, which has been to optimize space support to operations in other domains. Space operations have historically been split between multiple organizations with varying missions. With the U.S. military’s new commitment to develop a dedicated space force, these diverse agencies should develop a more comprehensive unity of effort.
NATO, the US puppet in international situations, has also jumped on the space bandwagon…..
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization recently declared that space is an “operational domain” for the alliance. Though much work remains to actualize an integrated NATO space posture, the affirmation is an important benchmark as NATO scrambles to meet rapidly evolving space and counter-space threats.
Today, space-based assets are an Achilles’ heel of U.S. military operations, representing a vital enabling mechanism upon which success often depends. In addition, great power adversaries could target civilian space assets to wreak havoc on the homeland in ways that redound far beyond the military realm.
Nothing about this should be seen as a step forward….this will benefit very few other than the people in the industry….and yet could eventually effect us all….and not in a good way.
Since I am one of the few bloggers interested in this situation….all I can say is…..
I have been writing a lot about space and the new proposed Space Force….and in all those posts I have referenced the outer Space Treaty of 1967…..and now it has come time to explain the treaty and its functions.
But this subject means very little to most people….my posts are not what one would call popular…..that aside I keep writing and posting because this whole idea will cost billions and the taxpayer will be on the hook for the total.
In 1967 a UN Outer Space Treaty was signed into reality….and for the most part it has been a success…..but is it a treaty for the 21st century?
Space exploration is governed by a complex series of international treaties and agreements which have been in place for years. The first and probably most important of them celebrates its 50th anniversary on January 27 – The Outer Space Treaty. This treaty, which was signed in 1967, was agreed through the United Nations, and today it remain as the “constitution” of outer space. It has been signed and made official, or ratified, by 105 countries across the world.
The treaty has worked well so far but challenges have increasingly started to crop up. So will it survive another 50 years?
The Outer Space Treaty, like all international law, is technically binding to those countries who sign up to it. But the obvious lack of “space police” means that it cannot be practically enforced. So a country, individual or company could simply ignore it if they so wished. Implications for not complying could include sanctions, but mainly a lack of legitimacy and respect which is of importance in the international arena.
Trump’s new Space Command and the proposal for a Space Force could the US violate a long standing treaty and by doing so start yet another war….this time among the stars…..
By directing the Pentagon to create a special “Space Force” as an independent branch of the US military to ensure the safety of US spacecraft and astronauts, US President Donald Trump has sparked concern that Washington would ignite an arms race in outer space.
Since outer space is the common property of humankind, China has always advocated its peaceful use and objected to its weaponisation. It also opposes attempts to turn outer space into a battlefield, and hopes all countries will make joint efforts to keep outer space peaceful.
The United Nations’ Outer Space Treaty, which came into force on October 10, 1967, stipulates that no country should take possession of outer space (including the moon and other celestial bodies) by means of sovereign claims, use or occupation, or by any other means. It also says signatory states must use outer space for peaceful purposes and should not establish military bases or facilities, or test any type of weapons or conduct military exercises in outer space or on celestial bodies.
So many questions about our extension into space and so few answers…the Treaty of 1967 was not the only document that deals with space and the handling of events……the Moon Agreement….
The Moon Agreement was considered and elaborated by the Legal Subcommittee from 1972 to 1979. The Agreement was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979 in resolution 34/68. It was not until June 1984, however, that the fifth country, Austria, ratified the Agreement, allowing it to enter into force in July 1984. The Agreement reaffirms and elaborates on many of the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty as applied to the Moon and other celestial bodies, providing that those bodies should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes, that their environments should not be disrupted, that the United Nations should be informed of the location and purpose of any station established on those bodies. In addition, the Agreement provides that the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind and that an international regime should be established to govern the exploitation of such resources when such exploitation is about to become feasible.
Watch a short video that will help explain the “Treaty”……
I spend a lot of time on this subject for space will become more and more important and someone has to use their training to set up parameters….like when a corporation goes to Mars to mine…..they did not sign the Treaty of 1967…..what stops them from raping the planet of resources?
Since I am the only one that cares I feel that I must keep my readers abreast of developments in space…..since they will be paying for it with their tax dollars for many generations to come…..
Now would it not be nice to know what you are paying for?
Bear with me and learn stuff.
August will be the launch of US Space Command……
We’re a week away from having a US Space Command—not to be confused with a US Space Force. “Next week we will formally stand up the new unified combatant command that will be known as the United States Space Command,” Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday during a meeting of the National Space Council, referring to space as “war-fighting domain,” per Space.com. In tweets late last year, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan clarified that a potential Space Force—to be established by 2020 pending congressional approval and funding—would “serve as a force provider for personnel, assets, and capabilities supporting space operations, while Space Command will serve as the operational command that will employ space capabilities and lead space operations.”
Nearly 90 people will be under the direction of Gen. John Raymond, Space.com reports, describing a formal ceremony to establish the command on Aug. 29. Those personnel will be in charge of missile warnings, space control, satellite operations, and space support, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, who also spoke at the meeting, per the Hill. “The direction is clear, we understand it and we’re moving out.” Shanahan noted in 2018, “This action reflects the value of space contributions to national security, the evolution of the threats to US space systems, and the importance of deterring potential adversaries from attacking US space systems.” It’ll be America’s first new combatant command in a decade, following the creation of the US Africa Command in 2009.
Virgin Galactic has announced a new Space Port in New Mexico….
Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from a remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin Galactic will run its commercial flight operations. The interior spaces unveiled Thursday aim to connect paying customers with every aspect of the operation, providing views of the hangar and the space vehicles as well as the banks of monitors inside mission control, the AP reports. Two levels within the spaceport include mission control, a preparation area for pilots, and a lounge for customers and their friends and families. There’s also space behind two massive sliding doors to accommodate two of Virgin Galactic’s carrier planes and a fleet of six-passenger rocket ships.
Company officials say the space is meant to create “an unparalleled experience” as customers prepare for what Virgin Galactic describes as the journey of a lifetime. Just how soon customers will file into the spaceport for the first commercial flights to space has yet to be determined, but Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides says that once the test flights are complete, commercial operations can begin. He envisions a fundamental shift in humanity’s relationship with space, noting that fewer than 600 people ever have ventured beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. “We’re going to be able to send way more than that to space from this facility here,” he says. “In another 15 years, I really hope that we’ve had thousands of people go.” About 600 people have reserved a seat, according to the company, at a cost of $250,000 a ticket.
Does that come with a payment plan?
Instead of looking for cash in tourism why not come up with a plan to help clean up the space around this tiny blue planet of tired and worn out satellites?
For the low, low price of $2.25 million, SpaceX will put your small satellite on a big Falcon 9 rocket and shoot it to orbit with a bunch of similarly small satellites. It’s part of a new initiative called the SmallSat Rideshare Program, and with a first flight in late 2020 or early 2021, it will carry only diminutive instruments, a boon for their makers. While a Falcon 9 carried out a similar rideshare mission last year, that launch was organized by another company. This time, SpaceX itself is promising “regularly scheduled, dedicated Falcon 9 rideshare missions,” according to its website.
Easy answer lots of wealth possibilities……a prime motivator……
Why is space so critical to the future? Space is powerful precisely because it benefits from the attributes and principles of a network. A network can deliver power, information, and goods from one node, or all nodes, at a fraction of the increase in cost per customer compared to a linear system. The post office is an example of a linear model. If you send a letter to 100 different people, you have to pay for 100 stamps. The Internet is an example of a networked model. If you want to send an email to 100 people you can send it at a fraction of the cost. Most of our terrestrial economies are modeled on linear design, driving up cost for every delivery to a new customer. A networked space infrastructure will always win the cost war against a linear terrestrial infrastructure. Consequently, the first civilization to build a robust networked space infrastructure will dominate the global economy of the 21st century.
Space will be a multi-trillion-dollar market that will disproportionately benefit the first great power that builds a vibrant infrastructure there. Finishing second in this race means accepting defeat. Why is this the case? Whoever moves into a new marketplace first defines and sets the terms of that market. If America is first to build the infrastructure of space, its rule of law and values, including every human’s inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, will underpin the marketplace. If China is first, its values will dominate. China continues to demonstrate a lack of regard for fair economic practices, the rule of law, human dignity, or liberty.
But does any of this promised wealth and influence violate a standing treaty on space?
A first ever space thingy……a crime of sorts…..
It’s an unfortunate custody dispute between estranged spouses, with one element that makes it stand above all others—it has led to what the New York Times reports might be the first allegation of a crime in space. In the short version, astronaut Anne McClain is accused of improperly accessing the bank accounts of spouse Summer Worden while McClain was aboard the International Space Station, reports Click2Houston. Worden has the bank records to prove that McClain did so, and the astronaut is not denying it. McClain is not accused of taking or even moving any money. She maintains that she was simply doing what she had always done while the couple was together: keeping on an eye on finances out of concern for the boy they’d been raising together. “She strenuously denies that she did anything improper,” says her attorney.
Worden, though, says she is “appalled,” and she and her family have filed formal complaints with the FTC and with NASA. They see it as identity theft. The dispute centers around Worden’s 6-year-old son, who was 1 when the couple met. They married in 2014, but Worden resisted having McClain legally adopt him as her son, too, per the Times. Now that they’re splitting, McClain is fighting for shared parenting rights. If McClain’s name is familiar, it might be because of an odd story from earlier this year. She was supposed to take part in the first-ever all-female spacewalk, but NASA called it off at the last minute, explaining they didn’t have enough medium-sized space suits. (This even became a bit on SNL.) A NASA spokesperson tells the Times the allegations had nothing to do with the scrapped spacewalk
This sounds like an Adam Sandler movie….God knows he could use the work…..
Sunday and MoMO has me trained……she taught me to play fetch…..LOL
Have a great day and thanx to all for the visits and comments over the last week…..your time is much appreciated.
That time again….a Saturday and time for IST News from Space…..
I know this does not interest most of my readers…but I feel obligated to keep informing my readers and trying to make sense of the space force thingy……
Besides the bureaucracy the cash needed to fund this new branch of the military will be staggering….cash needed elsewhere in the society…health, infrastructure, education, et al….but for some reason a Space Force is a priority.
The House Armed Services Committee voted to establish a United States Space Corps within the Department of the Air Force. The vote came in the overnight hours Thursday. The committee began its markup of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday morning. After a nearly 21-hour session, the committee passed the NDAA 33-24.
The Space Corps amendment was offered by the HASC Strategic Forces subcommittee leaders Chairman Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). The proposal is similar to what the committee proposed in the 2018 NDAA, including the name of the new space service, U.S. Space Corps, rather than the Trump administration’s preferred name, U.S. Space Force.
Like the Marine Corps, the Space Corps would be led by a four-star Commandant who would be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Space will be something to watch for it will siphon off more taxpayer money…..meaning that social services will be the first to suffer with cuts to pay for this adventure.
FYI
It will be hot here today…..I wrote this draft at 0300 hrs and it was already 94…..we already have heat advisories and it is only the second day of Summer…..gonna be a long Summer for us down here.
Yep Saturday begins with more news about the proposed Space Corps/Force…….I watch this situation for it will come back to bite us in the ass…..it will add more funds to an already stretched military budget…..how will this play out?
Let me begin with the chance of “Space Pirates”……
It wasn’t exactly the Gettysburg Address, but a speech Ted Cruz made at a recent Senate panel meeting certainly caught the internet’s attention. “Since the ancient Greeks first put to sea, nations have recognized the necessity of naval forces and maintaining a superior capability to protect waterborne travel and commerce from bad actors,” the Texan said Tuesday before the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space. Then came his main point: Outer space is a potentially dangerous place, and a powerful Space Force—President Trump’s proposed new military branch—is an utter necessity. “Pirates threaten the open seas, and the same is possible in space,” Cruz warned, per the BBC.
But I have been reporting on this situation for at least a year now……so is it a possibility?
The Trump administration’s proposal for the United States Space Force will not produce the agile and innovative organization that advocates hope it will. Instead, it will create an organization that is expensive, top-heavy, and bureaucratic. Space force advocates have ignored this problem in their enthusiasm to create a new institution but, with the proposal now before Congress, it can no longer be evaded.
The proposal envisions the space force operating like the other military services, but it will be too small to be viable. In trying to produce the number of senior military officers needed to staff all the high-level functions expected of an independent military service, it would end up with one general for every 270 servicemembers — five times the rate of the rest of the department — and no enlisted troops. The entire force would be officers, a problem compounded when we consider the reserve components associated with the proposed new service.
The first installment has been requested for our new Space Force….$15million…..
A House defense spending bill would provide $15 million to study plans for a Space Force rather than funding the establishment of the military branch as President Trump requested.
The bill would allocate $15 million to “study and refine plans for the potential establishment of a Space Force as a branch of the Armed Forces,” according to draft bill text released Tuesday by House Democrats.
The text adds that “nothing in this provision shall be construed to authorize the establishment of a Space Force.”
It appears that Congress, the House to be more accurate, is NOT on board with this Space adventurism…..
The House Appropriations Committee says it will not support DoD’s $72.4 million request to establish a Space Force headquarters, and wants the Pentagon to study alternative options.
The committee is scheduled to mark up the defense bill on Tuesday.
The draft report accompanying the committee’s proposed fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill notes that the decision to not back the $72 million request should not be read as a complete rejection of the idea of establishing a Space Force.
“The Committee recommendation does not fully fund the request to establish the proposed Space Force,” says the draft report obtained by SpaceNews. “The Committee makes this decision without prejudice and includes funds for the Department to examine and refine alternative organizational options that will streamline the management and decision-making process and minimize overhead cost and bureaucracy.”
Finally the House is not rubber stamping Trump’s military agendas….but I do think it would be different if it were a GOP controlled House.
Then the Senate has heard from…..
The Trump administration’s effort to create a new military service for space cleared a critical hurdle as the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 22 voted to approve the establishment of the U.S. Space Force in its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020.
The committee voted 25-2 to advance the legislation to the Senate floor, possibly the week of June 10. A summary of the markup was released on Thursday.
The SASC vote to authorize a Space Force is not surprising from a Republican-controlled Senate. But it was not seen as guaranteed given the skepticism voiced by committee members during a hearing April 11 with Pentagon officials. Several senators questioned the rationale and cost of standing up a new military bureaucracy to handle functions that the Air Force already does.
My site is one of the few blogs that shows any interest in the new proposed “Space Force/Corps”…..I am interested because it will cost the taxpayer more and more as the proposal moves forward……then the money will probably come from cuts in social programs……as always.
Looks like once again the US will be in a race to space…..this time it is not a Sputnik but rather a whole force of Space Commandos/Marines/Troopers………and the likelihood is getting closer….
Despite growing threats of space warfare, the Pentagon’s plan to create a new military branch called the Space Force faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill Thursday from both Republicans and Democrats who voiced concerns about costs, increased bureaucracy, and impact on military readiness.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.) told a hearing of senior military and defense officials that future conflicts with Russia and China will involve attacks “from, in, and through space.”
The Space Force will be needed for national security…….for China is pushing the space thing as well…..
Are the United States and China inevitably headed to a war in space? That was the central question posed by members of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission at a hearing on Thursday on Capitol Hill.
In testimony, experts provided ample evidence of China’s space ambitions and cited the already well documented achievements of the Chinese space program. But while the professional consensus is that China is a rising space power with a growing arsenal of anti-satellite weapons, a future war in space is not a foregone conclusion, these experts argued.
The commission was created by Congress in 2000 to investigate the national security implications of trade and the economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
How the United States invests time and resources into space over the next few decades will have long-term strategic effects.While current U.S. governing documents focused primarily on space align with the Astropolitik Model of state competition, which focuses on the employment of all instruments of national power, this appears to be incidental.Without a cohesive suite of documents to focus space efforts, the U.S. could fall behind its competitors.
The Pentagon is preparing for that confrontation in space…..
The United States is under siege in space, and we better get ready for an all-out space war.
At least, that’s the alarming scenario that a host of Trump administration officials posited on Tuesday and Wednesday at a major space conference in Colorado Springs, where Pentagon officials warned of increasingly sophisticated Russian and Chinese weapons threatening America’s hundreds of satellites and the GPS, phone calls, and internet-browsing they enable.
Will this be the first step for a colonization of space?
While the administration continues to work on a revised budget request for carrying out the new goal of landing humans on the moon in 2024, the technical plan for doing so is starting to take shape.
In a presentation at a joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board here April 30, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, outlined the agency’s current thinking about how it could land people on the moon in 2024, albeit in a minimalistic approach.
“We’re off building that plan, and it fits on paper,” he said. “But I will tell you it is not easy and it is not risk-free.”
While you were worrying about which lying d/bag will be president in 2020 the Pentagon is preparing for yet more imperialism but this time in space, where no one can hear you scream (I always wanted to use the)…..
And the beat goes on…..I will be watching…so you do not have to…..
I have been amiss in my writing on foreign policy and international situations…..politics has taken over as a major concern for me…..then there is the damn silly proposal for a Space Force.
What about “Space Law”?
A new SciFi Channel series?
NO!
I have been one of the few bloggers that have been watching the new proposal by Trump to expand our military branches by one….a Space Force or Corps or whatever the name they choose…..who know maybe “Starship Troopers” will become popular.
I am opposed because of the massive amount of funds it will take from concept to reality……then there is the thing called “Space Law”…..yep there is a set of legal positions when it comes to space…..who knew? Well I did.
Then I read an article about the idea of space mining…..again another subject that I have posted several posts about….
It seems that Russia is interested in asteroid mining……
Space mining has been the realm of science fiction, but a handful of firms and governments are pursuing the idea of making it a reality. The small Duchy of Luxembourg became the first country to adopt legal regulations relating to mining in space, including from asteroids.
“In January we offered Luxembourg a framework agreement on cooperation in the use of (mining) exploration in space. We expect an answer from Luxembourg,” said Golikova, part of a Russian delegation headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
All this got me to thinking……is there legal aspects to all this outer space stuff?
What happened to that UN Space Law from the 1960s?
The onset of domestic space programs during the Cold War propelled the official creation of international space policy (i.e. the International Geophysical Year) initiated by the International Council of Scientific Unions. The Soviet Union‘s 1957 launch of the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, directly spurred the United States Congress to pass the Space Act, thus creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).[3][6] Because space exploration required crossing transnational boundaries, it was during this era where space law became a field independent from traditional aerospace law. Since the Cold War, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (the “Outer Space Treaty”) and the International Telecommunications Union have served as the foundational legal framework and set of principles and procedures constituting space law. Further, the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, along with its The Office for Outer Space Affairs subcommittee, aid in governing international space law and policy. Challenges that space law will continue to face in the future are fourfold—spanning across dimensions of domestic compliance, international cooperation, ethics, and the advent of scientific innovations. Furthermore, specific guidelines on the definition of airspace have yet to be universally determined.
Is it possible that a Space Force would be in violation of treaties already in place?
the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;
astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities;
States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.
The proposal of a US Space Force could break a couple of these long standing laws……time for the UN to step in and talk with all the countries involved in the rush to space….again.
Some of my friends say that I have too much time on my retired hands…..to that I say….”Brain worms gotta feed”!
The wheels have been set in progress for the development of a US Space Force…..
President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4, directing the Department of Defense to draft a legislative proposal to establish a Space Force by 2020 as a sixth branch of the armed services under the Department of the Air Force — similar to how the Marine Corps is its own military service under the Department of the Navy. The directive makes clear this is an interim step toward eventual full independence for the Space Force: “As the United States Space Force matures, and as national security requires, it will become necessary to create a separate military department, to be known as the Department of the Space Force.”
Organizational design theory predicts several worrisome outcomes of a Space Force created either as a separate service or an independent department. The granting of independence to the U.S. Air Force in 1947 and the establishment of U.S. Special Operations Command in 1987 share striking similarities with the Space Force debate in terms of the general security environment and the specific re-organizing proposals. In each case, unique mission sets were differentiated at the highest levels — that is, they were insulated from outside control and elevated within the organization.
Slowly but slowly Trump is expanding our presence in space……Trump is hedging his bets in case Congress does not give into his desire…..
The Trump administration may not ultimately get to create the highly-anticipated Space Force — that will fall on congressional shoulders — but the White House has made strides in expanding the U.S. military’s role beyond the Earth’s atmosphere anyway.
Per CNN, defense officials confirmed on Tuesday that four star Air Force general, John Raymond, will head up the newly established U.S. Space Command.
I have always pointed out the cost to taxpayers for this decision……and it continues to grow…..
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Wednesday said his pitch to skeptical lawmakers on the need for a U.S. Space Force is that the Pentagon needs to move fast to keep up with pacing threats from Russia and China in space.
Speaking to audiences during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington, D.C., Shanahan said he envisions “15,000 to 20,000” individuals defending and protecting U.S. interests in the domain. In its fiscal 2020 budget proposal, the Pentagon said the branch will have 15,000 people, making it the smallest of any service.
While the Space Force will not need roughly $12.9 billion over five years to resource personnel and infrastructure for the branch like the Air Force originally proposed, Shanahan said the $2 billion over the same timeframe proposed to Congress is a “parametric estimate,” meaning one that uses historical cost information and analysis of previous conditions to arrive at a figure.
I have posted on this earlier…..China and US in a race for space domination……
Fifty years after the first moon landing, an American triumph that gripped the world, China marked the start of 2019 with its own lunar achievement. Chang’e-4, a Chinese probe, landed on the far side of the moon in early January, broadcasting – for the first time in human history – images of the cratered surface that faces away from Earth.
Chang’e-4 has been billed as a friendly explorer, the latest step in humanity’s mission to better understand and exploit the universe around us. But space exploration has always been about power. Beijing’s lunar feat represents the latest development in the space race between China and the United States – a conflict that will be “important to modern warfare,” according to a US Defense Intelligence Agency report released in January that identified China as a “threat”. The Chinese foreign ministry responded by calling the report “reckless” and “totally groundless,” insisting that China “opposes militarisation and an arms race in space.”
All this “urgency” for a Space “unit”….could this be another war prep by the US?
Staying ahead of space trends – from satellite manufacture to new launch options – is daunting. Six trends – at least – are at work. To what exact end they vector is unclear, but watching is important. These trends will affect American investment in space, national security, our modern standards of living, and our wider economy.
First, heavy satellites are getting heavier, as more capability is attached to each satellite. Capabilities are commercial to national security, communications to climate prediction, crisis response to territorial protection, real-time analysis to event anticipation.
All this talk about a Space Force……will it be legal according to international treaties? Of course Trump can do what he always does disregard any treaties he does not like…..stay tuned I will be posting on “Space Law” soon. (There are laws about space….believe it or not….)
