Posted on 09/02/2018 4:20:52 PM PDT by Kaslin
The United States of America is THE dominant space power in the world. We have developed more different space rockets than any country, have launched more successful satellites to Mars, very hard to do, and have developed the most complex satellites in the world. This is why the 21st century has almost entirely been invented in the United States and with what we know, and can do, we continue to preserve our PAX Americana stopping any large military force from attacking the United States or their allies.
Imagine a civilian world without: digital maps, global internet, real time cable tv, accurate weather reports, high speed logistics, self-driving cars and the lowest number of nuclear weapons since 1965.
Imagine a civilian world with more: airline accidents, pollution, expensive agriculture, weather related deaths, slower airline flights, expensive commodities, expensive infrastructure and expensive government.
These two scenarios are what we would be living with were it not for US commercial space technology.
What we have invented with the speed of computers, space sensors, space transmitters and ubiquitous communications transmitted through space has grown the entire business world exponentially. Manufacturing has moved around the world to lower labor costs, intelligent people have been hired globally and focused on business issues that have grown companies at speeds never before seen in the history of the world. The experts in all of this speed are all in the United States of America.
The result: a stunning growth of real Gross Domestic Product, GDP. In 1969, the year we landed on the moon, real GDP was $4.9 trillion and it grew to $18 trillion by 2017 (Data from BEA National Income and Product Accounts Tables). If the growth were strictly due to population, the current real GDP would be around $7.9 trillion. At the same time, we are No. 1 in per capita GDP among the top 10 global economies and our culture, and success, captivates the world so much that millions are attempting to enter our country, legally and illegally.
The backbone of this financial and technical revolution is our commercial space infrastructure: communications satellites, navigation satellites, imagery reconnaissance satellites, weather satellites and commercial rockets so radical, even NASA and the US military are running to catch up.
Without this incredible commercial space infrastructure, we would not be the No. 1 financial and business engine of the world.
All of this speed is gone with the flash of two nuclear weapons in space.
Two large nuclear explosions with their electro-magnetic pulse (EMP), one on each side of the earth, eliminates our entire backbone of success. Every single commercial spacecraft would be fried on orbit. Our communications would slow down drastically. Our global TV would cease. Our navigation grid might crash and we could lose aircraft in flight and it could take weeks or months to get regularly scheduled flights back into the air. Commercial weather for construction projects would cease and construction projects would be significantly slowed with expanding costs. Floods, rain, hurricanes and tornado predictions would be severely degraded. Thousands may die without the warnings. Our ability to schedule and deliver logistics globally would be delayed so significantly that the cost of all manufactured goods would go up dramatically and would require realignment of global manufacturing.
One nuclear weapon launched through space and exploded in New York, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles does the same. Where are we without the center of the business world, the center of the political world, or the center of entertainment?
A coordinated cyberattack of the USA and its infrastructure would have the same impact as a nuclear weapon. Again, where are we without a modern internet-based world?
Space is vital for our national security and our commercial well-being.
Currently, the Army, Air Force and Navy are all working in Space and Cyberspace balancing budgets which include budgets for these three missions: missile defense from space nuclear detonation, missile defense from surface nuclear detonation and cyberwarfare.
The Army is also fighting for budgets for increased air defense and increased longer distance missiles, the Air Force for their new F-35 fighter and B-21 bomber and the Navy for F-35s and maintaining their fleet. Each of these services needs to focus on their respective basic missions.
We don’t want organizations with split priorities and leadership without the requisite space background to make these very strategic budget decisions that affect the backbone of our society. We need an organization that focuses on Space.
We need a Space Force.
With a budget between $100 and $150 billion per year, we could protect what we have. This would be roughly a 0.83% investment of our GDP per year. This budget would allow our Space Force to dedicate themselves to supporting our commercial, civil and military needs of space. We can’t afford to lose the backbone of our economy and our lifestyle.
It’s America First.
I like the concept, but the name needs work.
Russia used to have a "Space Troops" service until a reorganization a few years ago. China does have a "Aerospace Support Force" in their Strategic Support Force which was formed a couple of years ago.
It is a matter of public record that the Chinese schwacked an 'old-and-busted' satellite 11-1/2 years ago. 13-months later, the U.S. Navy took out a failed satellite of ours with a missile shot from the USS Lake Erie.
We need it, and we need to get in gear and inhabit space.
Someone will, and the prospect of China or Russia doing it in a large way, should cause concern.
How would we like to see China militarize the Moon, or merely set up some space stations that could deny other nations to launch manned space vehicles.
We’ve waltzed around for 50 years, ignoring the obvious.
It’s time to go. It has been for decades.
This should be a Manhattan Level project. We need to be able to enter space quickly, economically, and repeatedly.
That we don’t have a way to get men into space right now, should be a reason to slam at least two presidents and more likely three or four.
Trump is the man. Now is the time.
“Let’s skip [Mobile Infantry] tradition for a moment. Can you think of anything sillier than being fired out of a spaceship with nothing but mayhem and sudden death at the other end? However, if someone must do this idiotic stunt, do you know a surer way to keep a man keyed up to the point where he is willing than by keeping him constantly reminded that the only good reason why men fight is a living, breathing reality?
“In a mixed ship [men and women] the last thing a trooper hears before a drop (maybe the last word he ever hears) is a woman’s voice, wishing him luck. If you don’t think this is important you’ve probably resigned from the human race.
Robert Heinlein “Starship Troopers.”
I know we’ve had NASA forever but this Space Force should have been started back during the Reagan era IMHO. Better late than never I suppose.
Couldn’t it be handled by the Air Force or NASA, or a combination of the two, without creating a whole new thing?
Sometimes countries have things that are part of available information but the citizens dont know.
Sometimes countries have things then lose them to one degree or another for "reasons".
The Air Force in fact existed before it was recognized as independent. Sometimes its just "the right time".
Just call me DARTH VADER ! I’m in. where is my Intergalactic Space Fighter to take out the Death Star? (Oh heck, we’re still fighting Aliens in country. Where are the ICE Jedi when you need them?)
Neocons run out of places to start wars? And Lockheed and Boeing are probably a hundred percent behind this.
Lets say China did militarize the Moon, as insane as that concept is. Please spell out an argument to me how a militarized Moon is a big problem. Worried they’ll knock down the flag from 69?
NASA and the Air Force? Well the Air Force can’t see the utility in an A-10 Warthog in coin Warfare. And NASA doesn’t have the capability to put a single man into space... So there’s that.
Because we want to be able to explore space.
Why to you think it is any different than any other strategic location?
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