rough draft of research paper

Space Force

On June 18th, 2018 President Donald Trump announced his plan for a 6th branch of the military, Space Force. This branch would replace the existing division within the Air Force that’s focused on space. Many people in the US dismissed this announcement as one of the President’s claims like drain the swamp or build the wall that would never come to pass. I don’t know whether Space Force will ever be fully realized as the 6th branch of the military, but if is does then there could be massive benefits. The creation of Space Force would increase government spending into technological development, that would prove to be very beneficial to Americans in their daily lives, for people around the world, and would be a crucial step towards the future.   

What is Space Force

After Space Force was announced by the President, Vice President Mike Pence laid out the plan for the Proposed 6th branch of the military at the National Space Council meeting. The announcement of Space Force by the Vice President cited recent demonstrations of space technology by the Russian and Chinese space programs and stressed the importance of not only an American space presence but rather American space domination. The Vice President emphasized the importance of rivaling the increasing presence of Russia and China in space. This was a rather divisive announcement, which is not out of the norm for America or for the current administration. The plan for Space Force created three subdivisions within Space force, the Space Development Agency, the Space Operations Force, and the United States Space Command.

The three agencies within Space Force each cover different important aspects of space. The SDA would work to improve national security capabilities by developing new technologies for space. The SOF’s goal is to provide space expertise to the combat commanders and to the rest of Space Force. The SOF would effectively act as the geek squad of Space Force and provide whatever relevant information that anyone within Space Force might need. Finally, the USSC is the armed forces division of Space Force and would handle any conflicts that arose, being led by a 4-star general, or a flag officer, and using the resources provided by the rest of Space Force.

Space Force would mostly be information based, looking at screens in a room that are covered with information that has been gathered by their satellites. You won’t be seeing any space ships with US Space Force written across the side piloted by some Han Solo type, at least not anytime soon. This is because the plan for Space Force does not currently include any plans to send anyone to the Moon or to Mars. That area is already being covered by private companies such as Boeing and SpaceX. Space Force will work indirectly with these companies as they have deals and relations with NASA which will be used in the Research and Development aspect in the SDA. This will lead to an increase in development of new technologies that will produce more advanced satellites, spaceships and technologies that can improve the quality of life for people on earth. An example of this came from the need for air in space which led to the development of technology that is now used to improve indoor air quality around the world.

Why people don't want Space Force

        Many people inside and out of America understandably dislike the President and much of what he has done to America and the world. The announcement of Space Force may have been discarded by people along with many of the MAGA three-word chants such as “build the wall” or “lock her up.” To me the dismissal of Space Force, is short sighted, as in science fiction there are two main outcomes for the future of the world; a post-apocalyptic wasteland or a technologically advanced space fairing world. Given a choice I would prefer the latter of the two options, and I see some form of a Space Force as the first step towards that preferential outcome.

        Another reason for people to not support Space Force is the lack of motivation. In the 1960’s all of America seemed to rally behind the idea of scientific exploration in the space race with the motivation of victory behind us. Now there is no clear threat or idea that is bringing us together, however there are threats that are unknown to the public, that I think might warrant this kind of reaction. For example, there have been demonstrations of new technologies by other countries space programs in recent years. In 2007 China’s military launched a missile that tracked a Chinese satellite, traveling 500+ miles up and destroying it. In 2014 Russians launched Object 2014-E28 that can attach itself to satellites. These technologies could easily destroy US satellites that provide us with information that we use on a daily basis, such as Google Maps, weather, both current and information for future forecasts, and global communication.

        The US military expenditure has steadily increased from about $300 billion in 2000 to well over $500 billion in 2014. With the addition of Space Force, the expenditure could increase much more substantially to fund the creation of such a program. Space Force would require a large amount of capital to employ people and substantially more for the research and development of new technologies. The sheer cost of Space Force is enough to question if it is a necessary addition to the US military.

How Space Force could be bad

Space Force isn’t all positives as it is a military operation. Such an operation could create several problems that could produce less than ideal outcomes possibly even war. Space Force could lead to increased international tensions as these technologies would increase the probability of international espionage. In addition, the testing of these new technologies could lead to satellite crashes which could shutdown certain services, or debris from the satellites could lead to a chain reaction that could hit and destroy hundreds of satellites or even the International Space Station, which could prove to be catastrophic for satellite-based services and future satellites/shuttle launches. To address these problems, the earth is huge, and the chances of a satellite crash is very low, and as technologies advance, satellite detection and countermeasures will be put in place to make the chances of crashing much lower than they already are. Many of the other problems have already been evaluated by the UN and there are some provisions in place to avoid such problems. It is illegal to have weapons of mass destruction on a satellite of space shuttle, so people don’t need to worry about a war starting and being bombed from space.

As technology advances and the rest of the world turns towards space as the next domain, the US must too develop some form of space program that can contend. Space Force in some capacity is the necessary next step akin to when planes or boats were first used in warfare; the side that did not utilize such technology was at a severe disadvantage, in both offensive and defensive capabilities.