Don't get your hopes up too high about becoming a space marine quite yet. But if the House of Representatives' version of the 2018 defense budget goes through, you may soon be able to enlist in the US Space Corps.
Back in January of 2001, days before the inauguration of President George W. Bush, a commission headed by future Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned of a "space Pearl Harbor" and urged a reorganization of the military to put a greater emphasis on warfare in the space domain—defending US communications and intelligence satellites, and if necessary taking out the satellites of adversaries. In their report, the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organizations told Congress, "The US is more dependent on space than any other nation... Yet the threat to the US and its allies in and from space does not command the attention it merits."
A few things happened that derailed efforts to change that perceived neglect. But now the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has breathed new life into those old plans by including a provision in the House version of the 2018 US defense budget that would create a separate military service dedicated to the cause of space as a warfare domain: the US Space Corps. It would also create a separate joint command, the US Space Command, breaking the role out of the US Strategic Command much in the way that was done with the US Cyber Command.
Source: Ars Technica
Previously: The United States Space Corps Wants You...
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:56PM
Militarizing space is not the same thing as having weapons and monitoring systems on earth that could reach space.
China, a signatory to this treaty you seem to place great stock in, has already demonstrated a satellite killer technology [wikipedia.org], (and made a huge mess in the process). The Russians [jalopnik.com] and the Americans [wikipedia.org] did the same, but with far less long lived space debries. Of these the only one that can be deployed in numbers in a hurry is the American version because it can be launched from F15 Eagle Fighters
The Outer Space Treaty banned weapons of mass destruction in orbit and outer space but does not ban conventional weaponry in orbit. So any shrapnell or gun type satellite weapon is still legal under this treaty.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.