The crux of the biscuit is this: I don’t believe that this will remain it’s own entity for very long at all. I doubt that 10 years will pass before the personnel and mission are absorbed into an existing branch of the military and/or NASA. I give even chances that is Space Force survives, they try and absorb NASA into the military but I don’t think that 60%+/- would continue to work there if that happened.
So how much will this cost us and how long will it last, do y’all think?
As a secondary debate/point of contention: does Space Force have any value at all and why/why not?
I’m not opposed to the idea of “Space Force” if it means we can trick Rs into funding space technology.
SF would just be doing what the Air Force (or the US space command) is doing already anyway.
Trump thinks his SF is going to be all about pointing weapons at our foes, but really, it will be more about launching GPS satellites, asteroid defense, and cleaning up space debris.
“Would you like some space coffee? Some space tea, perhaps. I think we’ve run out of space sugar, but Betty can hop in the shuttle and get us some at the space store.”
Such an absurd idea. Independent estimates show that for a Space Force of approx 20,000 people, who are currently doing the same work that they will under the Space Force, it will need to add about 5,000 new bureaucrats to manage the people already doing the things they are doing. This will cost an extra billion dollars a year.
The vast number of these people work on developing communications satellites, GPS satellites, related technologies, and the rockets to launch them. A much fewer number are assigned to operate those satellites. I think a lot of people are under the impression that Space Force personnel may some day go into space to fight a war. Nope. They are almost all going to sit in office chairs.
Can’t wait to see how many new military bands are needed for this dumb idea from a dumb person.
I think we should run with this theme and create an “Undersea Force”, which is just like the navy except underwater, and then we can create a “Shore Guard”, which is just like the Coast Guard but just stays right next to the shore.
If I recall correctly, the last huge new bureaucracy that was created was the Department of Homeland Security. Now, another huge bureaucratic boondoggle. Don’t these Republicans ever get tired of big government?
I’ve heard this message before, in almost those exact words. They were proclaimed by fellow Nazi and authoritarian warmonger Wernher Von Braun in 1953 during the height of the Cold War, declaring that the US must have complete and total military control of outer space in order to establish its necessary military global hegemony – absolute and total control of the world. It was the same deal he had with Hitler but now he thought maybe he could pull it off with the US instead, Hitler having unfortunately shot himself.
The name “Space Force” would have been even more laughable at the time than it is now, but the idea was almost exactly the same. Von Braun envisioned a network of space stations that were nuclear-armed and capable of observing everywhere on earth at all times. If anything happened anywhere that the US didn’t like, then whammo! A radio-guided nuclear missile would be sent down and blow the place to smithereens!
Almost exactly four years later, of course, Von Braun’s prophesy came true when the Russians sent up the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. This satellite orbited most of the populated regions of the world and sent out the following threatening message, and I quote: “Beep!”.
Believe me, if Donald J. Trump’s Space Force had existed then, that first Russian “Beep!” would have been the last. Of course the Russians might have felt the need to retaliate in some fashion, such as by obliterating Washington, DC, or New York City, but you can never put too high a price on American superiority in space.