Current Events > US Space Force is Go!

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/11/743612373/with-congressional-blessing-space-force-is-closer-to-launch

Now, key lawmakers leading the charge have the support they need to make a new U.S. space service a reality. The House and the Senate have both proposed plans for Space Force in their versions of the annual defense bill.

And next month, a congressional conference committee could hammer out a final blueprint in its approval of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

"I'm excited that it looks like we'll be able to have, really, the birth of a new service for the first time in 70 years," said Democratic Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper, a key architect of the plan. "Each warfighting domain should have its own capabilities."

ItsHappening.gif
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Nice to see some of that military budget used for advancing our space technology.
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US!


Space Force!


GO!

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Why? What purpose will it serve?

This is why people want to raid area 51.
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Haha yeah! We'll show them aliens what's up!!

EDF!

EDF!
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Oh good well be the first country to have a mass shooting in space. How special
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first mission is to blow up ISIS Space Station!

im still convinced that the reason why trump want space force because he misread the ISS space station.
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Cant wait to see the recruitment ads.

When regular American imperialism isn't enough and they have to corrupt the one place that was safe from capitalism... *Grin, chuckle, chuckle* Space!
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creativerealms posted...

Why? What purpose will it serve?

This is why people want to raid area 51.

We need to give space the sweet nectar of DEMOCRACY
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Remember Republican Space Rangers from GTA IV?


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All right sweethearts, what are you waiting for, breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the corps. A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal is a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune. Every formation a parade. I LOVE the corps!

I'm okay with there being a Space Force. Really, if I was president I'd also have proposed one. Would need something to protect the space colonies I'd also be trying to have us create.

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Dumb grandstanding
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Dumb. They'd save so much money if they'd subcontract this out to the Green Lantern Corps.
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a Space Force might be cool if it wasn't, you know, Trump

and if it didn't have such a dorky name

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Dumb as fuck. The one place we can cut billions out of the federal budget will now be more bloated to protect us from a threat that doesnt exist.
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they say under a new name.

what's the name?

is it gonna be a cool name like we've had in all scifi flicks?

U.S.S.F or something?
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ALIEN_WORK2HOP posted...

they say under a new name.

what's the name?

is it gonna be a cool name like we've had in all scifi flicks?

U.S.S.F or something?

Trumps Spaceforce, The Greatest
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One step closer to co-ed showers in the military.

This signals that Earth is ready for a higher form of war. Thor was right, we're doomed.
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I would think this was a dumb idea even if I liked the president because it seems like a pointless idea.
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Maga

Just give more funding and functionality to Air Force Space Command.
This is dumb.
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How are you guys not excited for this initiative?
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Sad_Face posted...

How are you guys not excited for this initiative?

Cause it was a Trump idea, and liberal fake news media always paint any Trump idea as stupid, even when it's genius.

Sad_Face posted...

How are you guys not excited for this initiative?

creativerealms posted...

it seems like a pointless idea.

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The flag for Trump's Space Force:



It's only a matter of time before they build Zakus and drop colonies on us Earthers.

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TheBiggerWiggle posted...

Dumb as fuck. The one place we can cut billions out of the federal budget will now be more bloated to protect us from a threat that doesnt exist.

TIL satellites aren't real.

Also, no one has ever considered developing space-based weaponry.
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On one hand, the arguments for it sound reasonable, though Im not really sure what a space force that addresses those concerns would look like besides just...being the Air Force.

On the other hand, this just sounds like the American Military Industrial Complex flexing because it can.

But on a hypothetical third hand, post 2 has a good idea. I mean, space research and advancement is responsible for tons of modern technology.

But on a fourth hand, thats what NASA is supposed to be for
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Why give NASA money when you can dump more into the military
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bknight posted...

Sad_Face posted...

How are you guys not excited for this initiative?

Cause it was a Trump idea, and liberal fake news media always paint any Trump idea as stupid, even when it's genius.

This would be stupid no matter whose idea it was. There is no reason space force. None at all.
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creativerealms posted...

Why? What purpose will it serve?

This is why people want to raid area 51.

In the present, from a practical standpoint, a dedicated Force to defending our satellites is necessary because if an enemy were to destroy our GPS for communication satellites, given that it takes about three months right now to launch one satellite, it would completely obliterate America's ability to fight back and probably completely collapse our economy as well.

Looking to the near future, space to space combat is going to become the New Frontier because if we can destroy another country's satellites then we can have the same impact.

Currently space-based defense is distributed among a number of different organizations including the Air Force. Part of what the space force does is consolidates responsibility currently distributed across different branches into one place. It isn't just creating an entirely new branch of the military and then adding a bunch of stuff to it. It's also taking from other branches so it's not as much of an expansion as it would seem on the surface.

This is one of those subjects where if you talk to people who are actually paying attention, it's a really sensible move and one that a lot of people would make, but because Trump did it people are just turning their brain off and making Power Rangers memes. I say turning their brains off because I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are capable of critical thought.

Edit: and this impacts more than Communications and positioning. Currently satellites are necessary for surveillance and for Beyond line-of-sight and Over the Horizon targeting. Whichever side has the superior view of the battlefield can take out their targets before they even know where they are. It is difficult to overestimate how critical space defense is even in terms of ground combat.
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s0nicfan posted...

Looking to the near future, space to space combat is going to become the New Frontier because if we can destroy another country's satellites then we can have the same impact.

if we do that we probably destroy our own in the process--the debris would fill the orbital path and collide with our satellites at very high speeds

same is true for them. seems like mutually assured destruction
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The next step is for Donald Trump to buy a big helmet


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eston posted...

The next step is for Donald Trump to buy a big helmet

Seeing this almost ruins Spaceballs
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Sackgurl posted...

s0nicfan posted...

Looking to the near future, space to space combat is going to become the New Frontier because if we can destroy another country's satellites then we can have the same impact.

if we do that we probably destroy our own in the process--the debris would fill the orbital path and collide with our satellites at very high speeds

same is true for them. seems like mutually assured destruction

You're thinking too traditionally. Yea, if we use kinetic weaponry to blow them up it's a problem, but this is space. Jam them, hack them, push or pull them out of orbit. There are lots of ways to deal with a satellite that wouldn't result in debris.

EDIT: Also, there IS such a thing as controlled destruction. China a number of years back had an old satellite that they blew up in space and claimed it was to keep it from falling to orbit, but most analysis says the real reason was because it was in geosynchronous orbit and what they did was effectively created a space debris "minefield" that prevented other spy satellites from sitting in that particular part of space. So other countries are already doing things like creating debris fields and figuring out how to clear them is presumably part of what the space force will be dealing with as well.
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It's mostly for Trump's uneducated base who thinks that because the Space Force is a thing that means the US will be flying X-Wings and Star Destroyers
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Doom_Art posted...

It's mostly for Trump's uneducated base who thinks that because the Space Force is a thing that means the US will be flying X-Wings and Star Destroyers

Well the space force seems like an evolution of Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative which people mockingly nicknamed star wars.
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Isn't this just an expansion of the already existing Air Force's duties when it comes to satellites?

Would be cool if they used a big portion the military budget for space research and exploration.

This could be the beginning of space colonization.
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Damn_Underscore posted...

Would be cool if they used a big portion the military budget for space research and exploration.

This could be the beginning of space colonization.

Lol. No the idea is to take money away from research and into defense.
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creativerealms posted...

Damn_Underscore posted...

Would be cool if they used a big portion the military budget for space research and exploration.

This could be the beginning of space colonization.

Lol. No the idea is to take money away from research and into defense.

This is the most likely scenario. "We don't have the tech to go into space so more airplanes for now, #spaceforce" accompanied by the standard military budget increases every few years. America's beyond saving tbh.
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s0nicfan posted...

Also, there IS such a thing as controlled destruction.

Most satellites are not in geosynchronous orbit.

orbit decay at lower orbits means that 'controlled destruction' is essentially not possible insofar as creating a stable 'minefield'. the debris will slowly make its way into the path of another satellite eventually, and destruction by explosives/kinetics creates a lot of debris.

even at geosynchronous it will decay slightly and eventually fall into the path of other satellites.

jamming/hacking is very hard with satellites, since they do not operate on known/open frequency ranges.
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A lot of military spending is research spending. Inventions the military has given us:

GPS
EpiPens
Duct Tape
Microwave Ovens
Digital Photography
VR
Computers and the Internet
Nuclear energy

Obviously all of those were expanded by civilians for civilians, but they were originally given to us by military research and development.
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