Shortly, before long, one may be able to join the Space Force. On August 7, 2018, Bloomberg reported that President Donald J.Trump announced the United States will establish a Space Force. Presently, the United States Space Program is split between sixty agencies of the Department of Defence (Dopp). What’s left is disorganized and no one department is in charge. It will become part of the sixth branch of the armed forces. It would be included with the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Airforce.
President Trump feels that the Airforce is already protecting American satellites. Space Force critics feel this would add red tape and cost millions and millions of dollars. The Space Force is “needed” so U.S. defenses are prepared for the next battlefield.
Before they decide, if Space Force is feasible we need to see if this is a new concept. During the cold war, the United States. and Russia felt that whomever had the most rocket shuttles or satellites would give that country control if there was a space conflict.
Russia has a space force that is independent. It was established as part of the Russian Aerospace Force in 2015. The United States has no one “workspace” and is not at all organized. The largest part of problem lies in that there is no United States military promoting or fighting for space. In 1982, Congress wanted the the U.S. to develop laser stations in space, in case Russia attempted to do a ballistic air attack against the U.
S. Trump did not get Space Force ideas out of nowhere. Officials with ties to aerospace industries pushed the idea for months. Star Wars begun and never advanced under Ronald Reagan. In 2007, Space Force Was liked by the House of Representatives. History reveals in 2007 China used many ballistic missiles to get rid of its older weather satellites. Never has there been a time, that it has been more important to know if spy satellites are destroyed because the U.S. will lose surveillance of the countries we spy on. So yes people feel we need to catch up with the other superpowers of the world with Space Force.
Space Force will protect the United States from foreign missiles. President Trump says, “I am directing the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the 6th branch of the Armed Forces (qtd. in Koren). The President made the announcement on television to surprise and quiet people in the White House and all of the branches of services. The Space Force would protect satellites from being jammed, blinding sensors by having lasers pointed at them and from being destroyed by kinetic objects. The Department of Defense is being asked to present a defense plan for the X-37 B. During the day, Space Command tracks world satellites to see if they crash. Secretary Heather Wilson stated that ,”the Force must be done properly” (qtd. in Erwin). Her recommendation is that it becomes its own military department. These reasons alone would keep the U.S. in control of space. There is an urgent need for satellites that could intercept foreign missiles and destroy them before they were to reach U.S. soil.
Advisors believe that the U.S. is vulnerable to attacks. NASA civil Space Agency would still be in charge of space exploration and scientific endeavors. The argument for a new military branch is explained that Air Force Brass “focus” their priorities and budgets on air superiority, The 2019 Air Force budget has eleven billion dollars. A defense budget analysis says that this is inflated and a billion dollar cost is absurd. With the rise in number of countries having nuclear power, as well as ballistic missiles, Space Force in the U.S. is needed now! Joseph Alexander, a space consultant agrees and says “If people go to Mars in 2030s, it’s not too early now to be prepared’ (Achenbach). NASA has even created the “ Orion spacecraft pressure vessel, an underlying structure that seals off a chamber for astronaut life support, is ready for transport” (Botkin-Kowacki). For the U.S.s to hesitate, would risk destruction.
Thirteen billion dollars, which is how much money would be used, is concertiative and the pentagon has many empty buildings that can utilized. Vice President Michael Pence says that “China and Russia were building weapons that may pose a new threat to U.S. satellites and targets on the ground” (qtd. in US Military). “Now, that the House of Representatives is divided in a poll of 1500 Americans in August, and showed 69% of Democrats against Space Force and 68% of Republicans are for Space Force” (US Military). Space Force has many supporters. “With one attack against the one attack against U.S. Satellites, we could be left dumb and blind within seconds” (Koren). The Senators and Representatives need to put politics aside for the betterment and the ultimate survival of mankind. President Reagan attempted to start the force when he was a President. Hopefully President Trump will be able to achieve what Reagan could not before he is acquitted or completes his term in office.
The naysayers of Space Force would agree that the cost of training and supplying the new military branch would be prohibitive. “ Trump administration’s decision to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. military is absurd, nonessential and will alter taxpayer dollars away from actual needs, such as repairing our dwindling infrastructure, supporting a failing entitlement system or simply addressing the compounding national deficit” (The Transcript Editorial Board) However this is false thinking on part of Congress. Not only, could they defend satellites already in space. But also, this new branch of military would allow young men and women, the opportunity to serve their country and to assist in its protection. The pentagon recommends that the relationship between the Military, Space, and Intelligence community should be strengthened. It also calls for a directional path for Space Force” (Insinna). Air Force Space Command General John Raymond says that our goal is not to have conflict in space but space is a “warfighting domain and we treat it as such” (qtd. in Church).
From a religious standpoint this can cause controversy. Pope Francis claims, “ that if God created aliens somewhere out there, then the Vatican is in no position to say Jesus wasn’t for them, too”. But should we find that life was created elsewhere, this could create chaos between all the religions. Since the beginning of time man has argued about where “they” came from. Was humanity a product of a Holy invention of God or were humans the result of microbes evolving, over time, into today’s man. To support the evolutionary theory, scientist should be able to duplicate some of the most rudimentary evolvements such as atoms combining to make a simple one-celled organism. To this date, this has been impossible. This fact leads one to another possibility, that early life on earth arrived from somewhere else. With the many million of planets in our universe it only stands to reason that are some are populated by living beans, either like humans, or not. A space exploration program would be instrumental in discovering these planets. have 1000 years left on the planet, due to climate change, globalization, nuclear weapons, and the risk of an extincion the size of the dinosaurs.
Man is depleting the world’s natural resources at an alarming rate. Mankind should be looking for new planets like Earth where humans could immigrate, should it become necessary. These can only be found through space exploration. A Space Force maybe the ultimate means for survival. To disagree is short sighted and self destructive. According to the Stephen Hawking, “Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or 10,000 years.” (qtd. in Rincon). This is due to climate change, depletion of natural resources, population increase, and many more.
President Donald J. Trump is planning to create Space Force as part of the Air Force branch. The Pentagon suggest joint space development for technically procurement. The Air Force in 2019 has an eleven billion dollar budget and he feels Space Force would be able to prevent U.S. satellites from being shot down in our country and the countries we spy on. The United States Space Force, working in conjunctions with private industries the necessary exploration of other planets. It can also serve to protect our satellites and act as a deterrent to of aggression from other countries. The Space force will provided many jobs for the countries citizens who would like to serve the country in a non-combative position. Trump feels that “Space is a warfighting domain just like the land, air, and sea” (qtd. in Ambellas). No matter how we feel, President Trump no matter how we feel, President Trump is going ahead to create Space Force. Vice President Mike Pence states“ Just as in the past when the Air Force was created, the Air Force established Space Force which is an idea whose time has come.” (qtd. In Gresko) Pence also said “The space environment has fundamentally changed in the last generation. What was once peaceful and uncontested is now crowded and adversarial” (qtd. In Gresko). Spaces Force needs to be ready for the next battlefield space!
The Future of Space Exploration. (2022, Apr 23). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-future-of-space-exploration/