Trump Directs Creation of Space Command as 11th Combatant Command

[quote]President Trump on Tuesday directed the Pentagon to create Space Command, a unified combatant command meant to lay the groundwork for his proposal to create Space Force.

“Pursuant to my authority as the Commander in Chief and under section 161 of title 10, United States Code, and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I direct the establishment, consistent with United States law, of United States Space Command as a functional Unified Combatant Command,” Trump said in a memo to the Pentagon on Tuesday.[/quote]
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/421861-trump-directs-creation-of-space-command-as-11th-combatant-command

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Xuan12 · 31-35, M

Well, US Military Assets in space area already managed by the Air Force. The more important question is how exactly does Trump propose to militarize space? Basically, an arms race in space could be exceptionally destructive and igniting such a scenario would be fool hardy.

PikachuTrainer · 26-30, M

@Xuan12 technically no one will be able to militarise space, there is an international treaty about space based military assets in orbit of Earth, that means no weapons platforms for instance.

The likely goal could be to create a military presence on Luna.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@PikachuTrainer There would have to be something worth defending on the moon first, and a credible threat to it.

PikachuTrainer · 26-30, M

@Xuan12 there is, resources, such as He³ for instance, not to mention the rare Earth metals that can be mined and returned to America for refinement.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@PikachuTrainer Yeah, but as of yet there's no way to obtain those resources. And I'm not sure we actually have a workable process for using the He3 anyway.

PikachuTrainer · 26-30, M

@Xuan12 oh there is a way of obtaining them, just no realistic way of getting them back to Earth. As for He³ it can be used to fuel Fusion reactors in theory, and we are close to achieving Fusion tech.

QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M

@Xuan12 You have to plan for the future, and a lot of it will be in space.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@PikachuTrainer But like I said, there's no existing reaction in which we'd use it beyond research at this time. Which while I agree is "close", I think we might have different definitions of close. I'm thinking decades at least. Einstein spent much of his life thinking he was close to unifying gravity and electromagnetism, but that still hasn't happened to this day.

@QuixoticSoul You do have to plan for the future, but the entire point of it is prudence. He's making nothing more than a show point of this, one which invites other nations to openly pursue the militarization of space. We all knew it was probably going to happen anyway, but the legitimization of it will only accelerate a very dangerous process.

PikachuTrainer · 26-30, M

@Xuan12 by close I mean by the end of this Century.