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Trump directs establishment of U.S. force to dominate space
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ourmandave 8y agoThis is adopting the Jedi "I Have The High Ground" doctrine as seen in that space documentary.
- krapp 8y agoThe entire space race was essentially that, mixed with propaganda and a wee dash of actual science.
- jcadam 8y agoThe USAF didn't manage to kill the idea this time, eh? I remember this (or something similar) being proposed a few times over the last couple of decades.
- 52-6F-62 8y agoIt started under Reagan didn't it? "Let's just put some lasers up there"
- rahulmehta95 8y agoWouldn't this be a direct violation of the Outer Space Treaty?
- gonvaled 8y agoWhy would the US care? Is the US abiding by international treaties nowadays? Edit: removed chest poking.
- sctb 8y agoCould you please resist this kind of chest poking (“you”) here? Edit: Thanks. There's a point here but it's obscured by generic inflammation. Less of that and more substance will help these conversations be more informative. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- gonvaled 8y agoCorrected, thanks!
- gonvaled 8y agoYou are right, but my plane is taking off an I need to be brief: These all check: - iran - TTIP - NAFTA - Paris accord And more
- hirundo 8y agoThe agreement with Iran and the Paris Accord were not submitted to Congress, and so did not have the weight of treaties. TTIP negotiations have been suspended and it has not been ratified. Like the president, Secretary Clinton publically opposed it during the presidential campaign. Trump has expressed an interest in renegotiating NAFTA but it's still in place.
- gonvaled 8y agoThe world does not care about the minutiae of US's internal political system. In the case of Paris, an agreement was signed and not respected.
- medell 8y agoMore detail here (but not much more): https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/president-trump-directs-pentagon-defense-department-to-immediately-being-the-process-of-establishing-space-force-as-sixth-military-branch.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/president-trump-directs-pent...
- drak0n1c 8y agoAlso out of the meeting, AP reports a directive to reduce satellite clutter: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-white-house-aims-satellite-clutter.html https://phys.org/news/2018-06-white-house-aims-satellite-clu...
- anigbrowl 8y agoMy guess is that this is a power play - create a new sub-agency of the DoD, move some projects from existing agencies (railguns and DEWs from the Navy perhaps), classify everything, and throw together some patriotically-themed video brochures for Congressional committees.
- tsomctl 8y agoIt's a distraction from the fact that Michael Cohen might cooperate with Mueller, Paul Manafort is currently in prison, and it just became public that Roger Stone had another meeting with the Russians.
- _kst_ 8y agoDoes the President's authority as Commander in Chief extend to creating a new branch of the armed forces? The US Air Force was created by an act of Congress (the National Security Act of 1947), not by a Presidential order.
- mieseratte 8y agoSort-of, the National Security Act of 1947 created the Department of the Air Force[0]. I've seen previous articles stating that the "Space Force" would become a sixth branch, but it would fall under the purview of the Department of the Air Force. This is similar to the Navy / Marine Corps arrangement wherein the USMC is an independent branch, but under Department of the Navy. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force#Histor...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- learc83 8y agoHere is a recent quote from by the Secretary Defense on the topic. "I believe it is premature to add additional organization and administrative tail to the department at a time I am trying to reduce overhead."
- drak0n1c 8y agoThis directive moves the existing space responsibilities of the USAF (GPS, etc) into its own department so it does not obscure the department's budget and compete with other USAF priorities. You could just as easily interpret the reorg as a clarification of military budgeting and slimming down of the Air Force's appetite. When there's a nebulous and expensive operation (USAF space operations employs nearly 2x the people that NASA does) it's better for it to exist independently with its own responsibilities than to grow under the cover of an even larger traditional entity.
- learc83 8y agoWhy not split off the Air Force Global Strike Command (long range nuclear bomber and ICBMs), or the Army Corps of Engineers, or the Navy's submarine operations? The answer is that what defines "a nebulous and expensive operation" is incredibly vague and if we start splitting all large military operations into their own branches we'd just end up with even more administrative overhead and the designation of separate services would lose distinction. The big difference here is that Space Force sounds cool.
- lainga 8y agoICBMS, the Corps of Engineers, and submarines have well-defined roles in the American military. Spacecraft, as of yet, do not. If you want surveillance, we have the NRO.
- learc83 8y agoWe already have the Air Force Space Command, which is the mission that The Space Force is going to take over. I'd say what they'll be doing is about a well defined as any other forces role. We don't know what a major war in orbit will look like, but we don't know what a major war against modern naval powers would look like either.
- afinlayson 8y agoAnyone else think we are living a 007 movie? We got the villain in place, Anyone see Bond?
- stephengillie 8y agoIf a "space base" were built in orbit, it would create some level of demand for McDonald's and other aggressive retail operations to supply. This could be the next step in civilian/retail expansion into orbit.
- josefresco 8y agoThe Air Force requested a top-line budget of $120.4 billion Air Force spends a lot of money on "space". The budget supports the goal of maintaining assured access to space and viability in contested and increasingly congested environments by continuing the block buys of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency System satellite vehicles 5 and 6 and Space Based Infrared System 5 and 6; and funding five Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle launch services, three of which are competitive launch opportunities. http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/652961/af-presents-fiscal-year-2017-budget/ http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/652961/af-pre...
- wyoh 8y agoCan't wait for him to call it "Stargate Command".
- stephengillie 8y agoIs there room under NORAD for their operations base?
- moomin 8y agoMaybe we should work on getting civilians in space first...
- feefie 8y agoSetting aside the constant drama surrounding Trump, to me this seems to have a significant positive potential. See reference [1] below to see how many people are currently in space. I would definitely not call that a "force". A more permanent presence in space for more people would necessitate a lot more scientific research that will likely have non-military benefits (like GPS research did in the past). There is so much for us to learn which is good for humanity and inspiring for young people. The excitement around space might make it easier to get additional funding approved. According to this [2] the Army, Navy, and Air Force budgets for 2016 weren't too far off from each other. It will be interesting to see at what level the funding will fall for this "separate but equal" department. According to this [3] the President has announced job one is to declutter space to avoid collisions and spacecraft breakups, which all spacefaring countries will benefit from. As much as I admire Elon Musk, it would be nice to have a government presence in space for rescue missions, etc. For anyone that has played too many hours of Civilization IV, you might enjoy Baba Yetu performed by the United States Navy Band [4]. The rescue force I would envision would be like the small clip at 2m00s to 2m20s in that youtube video, except in space. Lots of people talk about things like 'basic income' to protect us when machines watch what we do and then take over our jobs. I would prefer to push that day out a little bit by instead allocating money to us doing totally brand new things, like this in space, that excites me and makes me want to spring out of bed in the morning! [1] https://www.howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/ https://www.howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#Total_budget_by_department https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_... [3] http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/trump-space-force-1.4711012 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/trump-space-force-1.471101... [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWQQQjAEBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWQQQjAEBU
- fallingfrog 8y agoThis is a symptom of an underlying mental illness in our modern world in which every inch of earth, every exploitable human (especially the women), and every pure and beautiful thing, now extended to the rest of the universe, are to be treated as subjects of domination and conquest, to be exploited, despoiled, bombed, conquered, raped and enslaved. It's absolutely and unreservedly vile, disgusting, and fucking tragic.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoWhat you described is basic human nature. It has been with us since the dawn of our species and will be with us until we blink out of existence. The best we can do is try to incentivize the appreciation and preservation of beauty and equality. Because the minute it is in our own best interest to do otherwise, we will revert to our baser instincts.
- fallingfrog 8y agoAnd the "basic human nature" argument is absolutely false, although it's a popular narrative, and I would suggest that you go and do some research on anthropology and perhaps visit some countries that are not the United States and see how they do things there. Believe it or not the conquest/domination mindset is relatively new, and it's neither inevitable nor is it natural. You don't act like that towards your friends and neighbors, do you? Just steal anything that isn't nailed down? Most people don't. You've been sold a bill of goods, by a small set of sociopathic individuals who want to justify their criminal behavior.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoMost "groups" of people have behaved horrendously toward other "groups" of people, animals, natural resources, etc. I'm not sure how you can possibly look at any type of human history and think otherwise, the evidence is just too overwhelming. And, this may not just be human nature but the natural progression of higher order mental processing and group dynamics as evidenced by tribes of primates assembling war parties and killing and eating their rival primate tribes. And which countries outside of the US would you suggest I look for this peaceful utopia? Somewhere in Asia, Africa, or South America? I'm not sure Australia is the best example. And please don't suggest socialist Europe, who have committed some of the worst atrocities known to man in the very recent past. It is extremely naive to think that the majority of society's aggressive tendancies can be blamed on a handful of ruthless leaders or sociopaths. If that were the case, this would be a simple problem to solve. The much tougher truth is that we each have a piece of this inside of us.
- methodover 8y agoThere’s nothing in Trumps exec. order about a space force[1]. It’s not clear if Trump was speaking extemporaneously about something they aren’t ready to pull the trigger on or what. 1. https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1008786783436451840 https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1008786783436451840
- noetic_techy 8y agoGood. The Air force consistently drops the ball on space. Its needed a separate branch for a long time. Who cares if its Trump pushing it. Divorce your politics from reality: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/america-needs-a-u-s-space-corps-ab79bebe93eb https://medium.com/war-is-boring/america-needs-a-u-s-space-c...
- tabtab 8y ago"I'm gonna build the biggest Dyson Wall to keep those loser space aliens out! Believe me, space aliens are bad hombres; they poop out of their mouths and eat our cars at 3am. Those smelly green runts ate my golf cart in the middle of my game! Most come from total sh&thole planets, unbelievable! #MakeEarthGreatAgain!