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posted by mrpg on Friday August 10 2018, @02:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the U.S.-against-aliens-everywhere dept.

Pence unveils plan to create Space Force by 2020

Vice President Mike Pence announced the Pentagon's detailed plan for President Donald Trump's vision of a Space Force on Thursday, which would establish the first military branch in over 70 years.

[...] Pence on Thursday stressed that the new branch would be built, in part, from pre-existing elements. "The Space Force will not be built from scratch," Pence said during a speech before members of the Pentagon. "This is a critical step toward's establishing the Space Force as the sixth branch of our armed forces."

Here are the four components to the Department of Defense establishing a Space Force:

First, DoD will establish a Space Development Agency to develop and field space capabilities at speed and scale. The Air Force has already begun to transform its Space and Missile Center (SMC). The Department will accelerate and extend this transformation to all services by creating a joint Space Development Agency.

Second, the Department will develop the Space Operations Force to support the Combatant Commands. These joint space warfighters will provide space expertise to combatant commanders and the Space Development Agency, and surge expertise in time of crisis to ensure that space capabilities are leveraged effectively in conflict.

Third, the Department will create the governance, services, and support functions of the Space Force. Many of these will require changes to U.S. law. The Department will build a legislative proposal for Congressional consideration as a part of the Fiscal Year 2020 budget cycle.

Fourth, the Department will create a U.S. Space Command, led by a four star general or flag officer, to lead the use of space assets in warfighting and accelerate integration of space capabilities into other warfighting forces. U.S. Space Command will be responsible for directing the employment of the Space Force.

Will Space Development Agency research trickle down to NASA?

Previously: The United States Space Corps Wants You...
Congressional Panel Puts Plans for a US Space Corps in 2018 Defense Budget
The Case for a U.S. Space Force
President Trump Orders the Creation of a United States Space Force


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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday August 10 2018, @06:05AM (2 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday August 10 2018, @06:05AM (#719816) Homepage Journal

    The reason their rockets can orbit heavier payloads is because during the cold war they were less accurate than US ICBMs.

    If the US really _does_ create a Space Command, you can be damn sure that Soviet Union and the PRC will orbit far far more powerful forces.

    The PRC has only been making baby steps in space so far but they have _plans_ for that eight percent growth they officially target every year. And they're still pissed that they got uninvited to some manner of international manned spaceflight that took place back in the day.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday August 10 2018, @06:59AM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday August 10 2018, @06:59AM (#719828) Journal

    Russia's space program is decaying, and China's current rocket plans would give them something better than SLS but far worse than SpaceX's BFR (on cost) around 2030.

    Russia’s Space Program Is Struggling Mightily [slate.com]

    How Elon Musk Beat Russia's Space Program [bloomberg.com]

    China main SpaceX competitor as Russia is giving up [nextbigfuture.com]

    Russia will spend $24 billion to develop a large rocket by 2028 [nextbigfuture.com] (that would be worse than Falcon Heavy)

    China Plans to One Up NASA's SLS With the Long March-9 [soylentnews.org] (140 tons to LEO vs. BFR's 150 tons, and first flights in early 2030s with BFR flying up to a decade before it. Not fully reusable, possibly not reusable whatsoever.)

    Now, could China pump some more billions into its space program, hack into SpaceX's computers, and plan to make some good rockets faster? Maybe. But the "Space Force" won't be the catalyst do that. The Space Force is mostly a rebrand of the existing Air Force Space Command. It's not going to put a military base on the Moon anytime soon. It's about deploying, tracking, maintaining, and protecting satellites, which are critical for military surveillance of ground targets, GPS, monitoring weather conditions, etc.

    If anything, BFR being realized with its first full launch will be the second punch, following the first punch that was the Falcon Heavy demo. BFR will make Falcon Heavy look like a toy. And if the U.S. wanted to go full Space Marines, they certainly have the money to order a fleet of BFRs from SpaceX. If they can be reused daily/weekly, you could get thousands of launches for the previous price of dozens of launches.

    And we don't even need to put all our eggs in one basket. Blue Origin's planned New Glenn (three-stage version) could also smoke Russia's 2028 rocket.

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    • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday August 10 2018, @10:01AM

      by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday August 10 2018, @10:01AM (#719847) Homepage Journal

      -es:

      Use a phased array of masers to melt some of their solder joints.

      That there is no air in space results in the only way to cool something in it is to emit blackbody radiation. That wouldn't be enough if you heated a satellite each time it passed within view. After a few such passes you'll get it cooking but good.

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