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U.S. Space Command Authorization Signed

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday December 20 2018, @05:39PM   
from the to-infinity-and-beyond dept.

RandomFactor writes:

The Washington Times has an article up on the authorization of a new Space Command.

Trump signed a one-page memorandum Tuesday authorizing the Defense Department to create the new command. Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vice President Mike Pence said, "a new era of American national security in space begins today.

The goal is to set up a command to oversee and organize space operations, accelerate technical advances and find more effective ways to defend U.S. assets in space, including the vast constellations of satellites that American forces rely on for navigation, communications and surveillance. The move comes amid growing concerns that China and Russia are working on ways to disrupt, disable or even destroy U.S. satellites."

This is distinct from the President's goal (enjoyed by both his supporters and detractors) of creating a separate "Space Force" military branch.

The article also notes that the Space Command is not new and that

A U.S. Space Command existed from 1985 to 2002, but was disbanded in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks so that U.S. Northern Command could be established, focusing on defense of the homeland.

Sadly, if it hadn't been for that, we might already have Space Marines.

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Original Submission

• Re:Military shouldnt rely on satellites (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:29PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @07:29PM (#776933)

  A Prime Meridian

  5. The establishment of a prime meridian where watchers or astronomer/astrologers create an almanac showing the positions of the moon at midnight at that meridian using Draconis and the Ecliptic pole against the celestial pole to determine their local midnight. See this link. Star clock

  6. By using the position of the Serpent constellation Draconis to determine local midnight the navigator can establish their local time and if they are east or west of that meridian can interpolate the angular difference between the moon and the predicted decan or planet in degrees and arc minutes translating the difference into distance on the earths surface.

  The Method

  The only way to navigate by the moon is to work out the angular differential from a star over time and motion with the help of an almanac reference.

  This requires tracking the moon along the ecliptic and using certain stars in known constellations that the Egyptians called a decan of which there were 36 in one complete Zodiac to make up 360 degrees.

  But that knowledge is insufficient on its own, there is a crucial requirement, an instrument of sufficient accuracy.

  [...]

  Figure 7 shows the finding of longitude for navigation by measuring the movement of lunar, solar and planetary bodies against the background of the ecliptic.

  http://rexresearch.com/millercelt/millercelt.htm [rexresearch.com]

  The basic idea is to know the relative positions of the moon/etc vs the stars at the prime meridian and then measure how different it is at your position.

  Parent

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