CNN Explores 'How Space Force is Defending America' (cnn.com) 117
Friday a CNN video offered what it calls "an exclusive look into how Space Force is defending America." CNN's Jim Sciutto reported:
Inside Mission Control at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, Space Force Guardians, as they're known, fly the nation's missile warning satellites. Using infrared sensors, these satellites, orbiting 22,000 miles above earth, scour the planet 24/7 for missile launches and nuclear detonations.
Lt. Col. Michael Mariner: "We never stop — always vigilant — and we never fail. Because that's how important this mission is to our nation. We provide decision-quality data to tactical war fighters on the ground, to save their lives."
This satellite dish is in touch with missile-warning satellites deployed in what's known as geosynchronous orbit. If those warning satellites detect a launch anywhere on the surface of the planet, it beams that information back down to this ground station instantaneously, at the speed of light. And then Space Force sends that information, that warning, around the world to U.S. forces deployed aboard or here on the U.S. homeland. In January 2020, these satellites sprang into action, detecting multiple missiles from Iran targetting the Al Asad airbase in Iraq. Before those missiles rained down, within minutes Space Force had delivered a lifesaving warning to units on the ground. Space Force specialist Sally Stevens was on duty. "It is lightning fast."
CNN: "Right. And quick enough to take action to protect themselves."
Stevens: "Absolutely. Especially in the Al Asad night. Not very often do we get reminded of where our end data gets to, and that night was a shocking reality."
Missile-warning satellites are just a fraction of the hundreds of U.S. government and commercial satellites monitored and defended by the Guardians of the Space Force today — defended because U.S. adversaries led by Russia and China have deployed weapons to disable or destroy them. Space Force is now an independent branch of the U.S. military due to this alarming new reality. Space, once relatively peaceful territory, is now considered a potential front in any modern war.
Colonel Matthew Holston: "Space is a war-fighting domain. It's the reason that we set up the United States Space Force as a separate service. So each and every day, we're training our operators to deter conflict, but if deterrence fails, to compete and win in space."
The U.S. has far more satellites than any other nation, some 2,500, compared to 431 for China and 168 for Russia. And a whole range of U.S. military technologies depend on them... The danger for the U.S. is that greater dependence on space equals greater vulnerability to attacks in space.
Lt. Col. Michael Mariner: "When you're at the top, the target's on your back. Everybody's shooting for you."
China is launching kidnapper satellites with grappling arms capable of plucking satellites out of orbit. Russia is deploying kamikaze satellites, capable of ramming and destroying U.S. space assets. And Russia now has a new space weapon that Space Force dubs "the nesting doll."
General John W. Raymond, Space Force Chief of Space Operations: "Back in 2017, Russia launched a satellite, and it opened up and another satellite came out, and then it open up and a projectile came out. That projectile is designed to kill U.S. satellites. So in 2019 they did the same thing, but this time they put it up next to one of our satellites. And then we started talking about it."
CNN: "You warned them away?"
Raymond: "We described what is safe and professional behavior. And it's important. Today there's no rules in space. It's the wild, wild west."
Russia and China also have directed-energy weapons, which can damage or disable U.S. satellites from a distance. The age of lasers in space has already arrived. New satellites are being designed with greater maneuverability, shielding to block directed-energy weapons, and resiliency so that losing one or a few does not disable the entire system. Space Force commanders welcome the private sector's entry into space, since it gives more and cheaper options to get into orbit... Raymond: "I would bet on U.S. industry any day. It's a huge advantage that we have."
A CNN article summarizing the report adds that Ameria's adversaries" have already attempted to use space weapons to temporarily disable US satellites, using lasers and directed-energy weapons to blind or 'dazzle' them."
CNN's report concludes that space war "is not science fiction, but a battle already underway today," adding this quote from Space Force Chief of Space Operations, General John W. Raymond. "We would prefer the domain to remain free of conflict. But like in any other domain — like air, land, sea, and now space — we'll be ready to protect and defend."
Lt. Col. Michael Mariner: "We never stop — always vigilant — and we never fail. Because that's how important this mission is to our nation. We provide decision-quality data to tactical war fighters on the ground, to save their lives."
This satellite dish is in touch with missile-warning satellites deployed in what's known as geosynchronous orbit. If those warning satellites detect a launch anywhere on the surface of the planet, it beams that information back down to this ground station instantaneously, at the speed of light. And then Space Force sends that information, that warning, around the world to U.S. forces deployed aboard or here on the U.S. homeland. In January 2020, these satellites sprang into action, detecting multiple missiles from Iran targetting the Al Asad airbase in Iraq. Before those missiles rained down, within minutes Space Force had delivered a lifesaving warning to units on the ground. Space Force specialist Sally Stevens was on duty. "It is lightning fast."
CNN: "Right. And quick enough to take action to protect themselves."
Stevens: "Absolutely. Especially in the Al Asad night. Not very often do we get reminded of where our end data gets to, and that night was a shocking reality."
Missile-warning satellites are just a fraction of the hundreds of U.S. government and commercial satellites monitored and defended by the Guardians of the Space Force today — defended because U.S. adversaries led by Russia and China have deployed weapons to disable or destroy them. Space Force is now an independent branch of the U.S. military due to this alarming new reality. Space, once relatively peaceful territory, is now considered a potential front in any modern war.
Colonel Matthew Holston: "Space is a war-fighting domain. It's the reason that we set up the United States Space Force as a separate service. So each and every day, we're training our operators to deter conflict, but if deterrence fails, to compete and win in space."
The U.S. has far more satellites than any other nation, some 2,500, compared to 431 for China and 168 for Russia. And a whole range of U.S. military technologies depend on them... The danger for the U.S. is that greater dependence on space equals greater vulnerability to attacks in space.
Lt. Col. Michael Mariner: "When you're at the top, the target's on your back. Everybody's shooting for you."
China is launching kidnapper satellites with grappling arms capable of plucking satellites out of orbit. Russia is deploying kamikaze satellites, capable of ramming and destroying U.S. space assets. And Russia now has a new space weapon that Space Force dubs "the nesting doll."
General John W. Raymond, Space Force Chief of Space Operations: "Back in 2017, Russia launched a satellite, and it opened up and another satellite came out, and then it open up and a projectile came out. That projectile is designed to kill U.S. satellites. So in 2019 they did the same thing, but this time they put it up next to one of our satellites. And then we started talking about it."
CNN: "You warned them away?"
Raymond: "We described what is safe and professional behavior. And it's important. Today there's no rules in space. It's the wild, wild west."
Russia and China also have directed-energy weapons, which can damage or disable U.S. satellites from a distance. The age of lasers in space has already arrived. New satellites are being designed with greater maneuverability, shielding to block directed-energy weapons, and resiliency so that losing one or a few does not disable the entire system. Space Force commanders welcome the private sector's entry into space, since it gives more and cheaper options to get into orbit... Raymond: "I would bet on U.S. industry any day. It's a huge advantage that we have."
A CNN article summarizing the report adds that Ameria's adversaries" have already attempted to use space weapons to temporarily disable US satellites, using lasers and directed-energy weapons to blind or 'dazzle' them."
CNN's report concludes that space war "is not science fiction, but a battle already underway today," adding this quote from Space Force Chief of Space Operations, General John W. Raymond. "We would prefer the domain to remain free of conflict. But like in any other domain — like air, land, sea, and now space — we'll be ready to protect and defend."
Two words: Kessler Syndrome (Score:4, Interesting)
Problem is that anyone who is able to get a rocket into space can launch something like a bag of sand, and the entire orbit will be impassible for hundreds of years. Denying space is trivially easy. No explosives needed... just high velocities.
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None of that is true.
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Can you elaborate on why you say none of that is true?
(Not saying you're wrong, just after some details).
I was under the impression that something like what the OP said was true. Get enough high velocity space junk in orbit and it'll start a chain reaction of crashing into satalites and causing more space junk.
Not that nearly any country on the planet would find that a competitive advantage. "Haha we destroyed satalites for everyone forever" wont make you many friends amoung other nations or your own people
Re:Two words: Kessler Syndrome (Score:5, Informative)
1) Just tossing stuff into space near Earth doesn't put it into "orbit" for relevant values of orbit. If you undo the strings at the top of the bag and then launch it in a stable orbit, you've just got a satellite-sized collection of sand that will tend to clump together. If you put some fireworks in there to spray it around, almost none of it is in a stable orbit.
2) LEO is sort-of space; it still has thin atmosphere. Little bits of sand do not even maintain a constant speed, even if you start them off in a good orbit, they won't last long.
3) The same thing is true of debris from random collisions.
4) The actual problem with satellite collisions causing more collisions is because those satellites are in about the same orbit, eg, they're at the same altitude and speed. (for a stable orbit, everything at the same altitude is at the same speed) If two satellites hit each other, most of the debris still has about the same speed, but a different trajectory, so it has a good chance of getting in the way of other stuff. When you hit a satellite from a weird angle, now most of the debris is at a different altitude, it is no longer even going to stay in orbit for very long, and it is less likely to hit something in the meantime. Possible, but less likely. And if it does hit something, it is because it was wobbling in an eccentric temporary orbit, so that debris is also then redirected.
It all sounds good when you're using back-of-the-envelope type calculations, but when you consider how orbits actually work, it becomes a lot less scary.
As for ""Haha we destroyed satalites for everyone forever" it would only take a few months of firing ground-based lasers to knock a large collection of stuff out of stable orbit. When you hit a piece of sand, or metal, or whatever with a short (a few femtoseconds, I'm talking about the operational US military ones) burst from a high power laser, it ablates the surface, basically explodes the skin, which in orbit causes substantial movement of the object. The ablated particles are so small they get pushed around by the Sun, in addition to getting slowed by the atmosphere, so they drop fast.
I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:2, Interesting)
What happened?
https://youtu.be/S1e7PW19TEQ [youtu.be]
If it was a joke then, why is it not a joke now?
Re: I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:2)
Re:I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:4, Informative)
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Because a whole bunch of stuff that was Air Force business was shovelled across to the Rocket Rangers to make it look like they had some relevancy. If you look at the situation before the Rocket Rangers were created and after, exluding the make-work stuff that was wished into existence purely to keep the Rocket Rangers busy, nothing has changed except the logos.
The same thing, the exact same thing was said about the Air Force when they were created from the Army Air Command. Now they are the best Air Force in existence and the standard for all others. And count on the same standards again.
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The difference was that the Air Force was created forty years after it was first used in WWI, when it had been obvious for decades that there needed to be a separate arm for it - almost every tin-pot little country already had one, I mean Zimbabwe's air force is older than the USAF.
For the Rocket Rangers OTOH there's no obvious need for them, unless it's to defend against blurry black-and-white dots on Navy radar screens, for which I think electronics technicians would be more useful.
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Re:I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:5, Informative)
Oddly enough, the exact same thing happened the last time we created a new Military branch out of part of an older branch.
That time it was the creation of the Air Force out of the Army Air Corps.
Yeppers, the Air Force didn't come into being for any reason other than to create another seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And now the Space Force is doing the same thing - creating another seat on the Joint Chiefs.
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It's like overnight the media went from telling us the government is evil and we need more of it but with a different leader, to the government is the best thing ever and we need more of it with the current leader.
Hmm yes it's almost like the leader of the government makes a huge difference to what the government does
Re:I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmm yes it's almost like the leader of the government makes a huge difference to what the government does
Hmm yes it's almost like the leader of the government makes a huge difference to what CNN does.
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Biden, being a senile tool of the same unelected part of government, is naturally going to get the kid glove treatment from CNN. Weird seeing the media and government cozy up together, isn't it? Say, what's it called when corporate and government interests merge? I'm certain I had a class on this once. Can anyone help me out? What's that called?
And what do you call it when Fox (the single largest cable news network), OANN and Newsmax cozies up to Trump? Trump told me CNN has horrible ratings and no one watches it and it's "failing" like the NY Times so why are you so worried about what they do?
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Okay.
I don't know why people keep trying to sell this "Biden in senile" trope - it's fucking ridiculous if you even hear him answer questions. It's very clear he's not, and he's always had a stutter that he's dealt with his entire political career. Are you really conflating a stutter with mental incompetence, which is basically the insensitive equivalent to saying someone is "retarded"?
Second: He was elected. By the same margin in the Electoral College as Trump won with in 2016. And he won the popular
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Re:I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:5, Insightful)
Gosh, I can't imagine what's changed between now and then.
Nothing has changed between now and then if you look at the details. Space Force remains a joke. The joke has always been the name. The joke has always been the fact that Trump needed a legacy other than the worst president ever. It remains a joke now.
This article isn't talking about politics, they are talking about Space Force actually does. Critically, they are doing everything the armed forces already did before a useless president decided to move those actions to a separate department.
The joke is that we have a separate department now with a separate budget doing exactly what the armed forces always did but just using more taxpayer dollars in overhead.
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Trump needed a legacy other than the worst president ever.
He's safe on that one. There were worse before him and history will be far kinder to him than his successor.
Re: I thought Space Force was a big joke to CNN... (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is the name "space force" any more of a joke than the name "air force"?
Maybe because we don't fight wars in space, and even now the entire job of space force is nothing more than to supervise a few of the assets which used to belong to the air force. The joke is the department is the president's penis. It brought nothing other than overhead to create it. America is no more or less safe than it was before, and is doing no more or less in space than it was before.
Comparing it to the Air Force is stupid, and Air Force has a specific purpose unique in battle in both experience and equipment. Space Force currently is not unique instead providing standard services used by all other armed forces. Heck NOAA has more presence in Space than the Space Force. Think about that for a second.
If you want to compare it to another joke consider maybe the Marines. Nothing like creating a department that does the same job as multiple other departments. Though some may say the Coast Guard is equally superfluous considering they do the job that most other countries simply give to the Navy.
It's all incredibly pointless overhead that provides precisely zero practical benefit in national defense. But Trump got a footnote on his Wikipedia entry so at least someone is happy.
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Why is the name "space force" any more of a joke than the name "air force"?
That you know about. And besides, even if we aren't actually fighting wars in space (e.g. starfighters, etc), what's to say we won't be over the next several years. Thanks to SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, etc, space flight will become as common as air travel over the next few decades. We can be assured that the US government either has the capability to wage full scale war in space now, or will in the short term. So let's be a little proactive instead of reactive.
But hey, Orange Man Bad.
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The joke is the department is the president's penis.
Space Force is a misshapen mushroom? I guess I missed the announcement of their new logo...
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Why is the name "space force" any more of a joke than the name "air force"?
Thane name Space Force implies people will be flying around in rocket ships in dog fights like they did in Top Gun. Meanwhile it was done to grab headlines and impress the rubes but most people simply laughed.
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But it wasn’t, and here we are.
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It's like overnight the media went from telling us the government is evil and we need more of it but with a different leader, to the government is the best thing ever and we need more of it with the current leader.
You say 'the media'. Are you including the rightwing media in this? Because to me it seems they did the exact opposite.
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Well, yeah. In CNN's mind, everything Trump did, proposed, or supported was stupid, dangerous, and must be undone. When their guy is in the White House, it's brilliant. Not only that but they insist on taking credit for it even though they were opposed to it. This is yet another case of cognitive dissonance followed by confirmation bias.
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OP here. This person gets it, mod up. Everyone here is talking about Trump or whatever (lots of TDS) but that's not really the point of the post.
If CNN was amplifying the message that the Space Force was a joke then and is now telling you Space Force is doing important work, what else are they downplaying/lying about/amplifying contrarian voices about just to be obstinate instead of reporting important news and facts? And why should anyone take what they say at face value? I leave it as an exercise to the r
can't wait for the movie (Score:2)
Wow. How do they do that? (!) (Score:5, Insightful)
"...it beams that information back down to this ground station instantaneously, at the speed of light."
The speed of light! As a selling point! As if these SF jockeys were the first to use this fundamental constant.
I keep thinking we couldn't get more stupid & gullible.
Re:Wow. How do they do that? (!) (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, ask the average Joe on the street what the speed of light is and see how many can even get close. The only thing most people know is it means something is FAST.
If you ask most people the following four questions, you'll be lucky to find anyone that can answer more than one:
Re: Wow. How do they do that? (!) (Score:5, Funny)
What is the speed of light? How far away from Earth is the Sun? How long does it take the Earth to spin on its axis? What keeps a satellite from falling back to Earth? 1. I've seen it abbreviated as 'c' so it can only be 'cunt' 2. Approximately 8 minutes at cunt speed 3. 23 hours and 54 seconds, the extra 6 seconds are added by the small arc the Earth travels around the Sun during that time. 4. Lack of air at that height. Gravity only works in the presence of air.
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Gravity only works in the presence of air.
This is actually an experiment you can try at home - hold your breath for long enough and you'll start too feel light-headed as the air inside you gets used up and gravity ceases to have its full effect.
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There's no air on the moon so gravity can't work! Yet those astronauts always dropped down again.
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You need to remember that the Moon is made of cheese and under the sunlight, the surface melts a little thus making it sticky and allowing the astronauts to walk.
Re: Wow. How do they do that? (!) (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, that is 23h 56m 04s so 3m54s = 236s less than 24h. And if you multiply 236 by 365.24 you get 86197s = 23h56m36s ~= 24h which makes sense since during a full year, one day is caused by the rotation of Earth around the Sun and the rest by the rotation of Earth around its axis.
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The original question did not specify solar time or sidereal time, so either answer (24 h or 23 h 56 m...) is correct. Depends on your frame of reference.
Re: Wow. How do they do that? (!) (Score:2)
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1. 1 c
2. 1 AU
3. 1 day
4. (c'mon, it was ALMOST funny)
Re: Wow. How do they do that? (!) (Score:2)
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The scam artists have long realized that: There's a sucker born every minute.
And with all the anti-intellectualism and pseudo science being pushed by large media (looking at you Rupert Murdoch, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the likes) they're doing their part to keep it that way.
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"...it beams that information back down to this ground station instantaneously, at the speed of light.
So ... it uses radio?
Well, thank god for that critical invention!
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I think you're missing the point: that the reaction time is fast, despite the distance: the signal takes less than 1/10 second to get from geostationary orbit down to the receiving stations on Earth. (Actually, double that, because it takes the same amount of time for the light--or whatever--from the launch to get up to the satellite.)
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And this is faster than sending it across the ground?
(calculating...)
Guess what: It isn't.
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And while 'rockets' that deliver payloads into orbit aren't exactly the same as these suborbital missiles, they share a lot of the rocket science.
Though of course Hanlon's Razor would suggest that it was just Trump being Trump, trying to fool the people just like Reagan did before him.
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If people dying and suffering from a lack of healthcare or workers rights would get just as much attention... America would be a much better place.
Since when the nobles care about the peasants?
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like when silly Bush took out Bin Laden
When was that? I think we all missed that one.
Space is the "high ground" like it or not (Score:2)
The advantages of look down-shoot down are militarily irreplaceable.
War is intrinsic to humanity and has not evolved by accident. Ability to wage it at least well enough to deter enemy action is a human social necessity. We are a savage aggressive race. It is the norm not the exception.
Re: Space is the "high ground" like it or not (Score:1)
Thank military power for that "longest peace" (Score:2)
Love didn't keep the Warsaw Pact from crashing through the Fulda Gap nor does love contain renewed Russian expansionism.
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Well, warfare in Europe is a bit more complex than "Germany". Germany only existed for about 150 years now, and there was plenty of strife in Europe before that. The key reason behind warfare in Europe was that there are a lot of different countries in a very small area, with all of them being at a rather high economic and military standard and also notoriously short on resources, which led to colonization, which in turn led to more wars over those colonies.
One of the main reasons that wars are simply not f
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Want to blame England, want to blame Spain, want to blame Portugal, France, Italy, Russia, Sweden, old Austria-Hungary back when it existed, even Serbia... you'll find something to blame on every country in Europe. Some war was certainly caused, created or somehow influenced by any of them.
"Mostly England" is a bit of a stretch.
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> One of the main reasons that wars are simply not feasible anymore is the interdependency that has arisen after WW2. Countries are so deep in each others' pockets that shooting at another country is practically economic suicide.
That’s success in my book. Understanding interdependence is key to ending conflict at any scale and in any context.
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One of the main reasons that wars are simply not feasible anymore is the interdependency that has arisen after WW2.
There were plenty of wars after WW2, so your underlying assumption is simply not true.
Interdependency is a factor now, but at the end of WW2, the reason to have fewer wars is that it's no longer possible to gain resources through them. Prior to the 2 world wars, wars were generally limited and less destructive, so if you could say, gain a colony or a resource-rich piece of land through conquest, you could do the math and decide there was a profit to be made. Today, even a low-level conflict could render who
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Ideologies and religions are a great ruse for the idiot masses to get them to go to war. It's easier to convince someone to shoot and get killed for "he said your imaginary friend is a poopie head" or just "he prays wrong" than "I want their oil, and if you survive that fight you get to pump it for me".
It's not exactly a reason. But it sure makes a great pretext.
Failure (Score:2, Interesting)
Lt. Col. Michael Mariner: "We never stop — always vigilant — and we never fail.
If they never fail then we should probably be giving them something more challenging to do.
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I get reminded of the old exchange in MASH over the sale of garbage:
Burns: "Colonel, I will not disappoint you!"
Potter: "Major, you couldn't even if you tried".
TL;DR: (Score:5, Insightful)
They are doing exactly the same stuff they were doing as Air Force Space Command.
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Not quite. They are doing it in their own department, meaning they get to spend more tax payer money on overhead achieving the same goal!
Department of Redundency Department (Score:1)
"..there's no rules in space. It's the wild, wild" (Score:3)
So maybe it would be good if we set some definitive rules before we screw things up further.
You know, like when we finally meet Native-Astronauts who are wondering why we're planting flags on their corn planets.
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When the only "enforcers" of said rules are the ones most likely to break them, the rules exists only for PR purposes.
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Any alien race we meet in the near future will be so vastly superior to us that our flag-planting would resemble a colony of ants swarming around a dropped slice of bread. It's a curiosity at best and a minor nuisance at worst.
Jingoistic bs (Score:2)
Makes me wanna smoke crack. In space. With the Guardians of the (cough) Galaxy to protect me.
---
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
LOL at detecting missiles coming from Iran. (Score:1)
Iran warned the US through Iraq who promptly informed the US that they had launched missiles, which gave the US time to take for cover. It was in the news everywhere.
Space Force is offense, not defense (Score:2)
This is an old problem. It's very difficult to protect satellites from debris. Most if not all lighter power space based "defense" technologies are far more effective to attack space targets, and are next to useless for defense. They can't target incoming attacks. There is a certain amount of hardening possible, but most of that hardening is done already to protect satellites or manned craft from solar radiation, solar heating, gamma rays, and the Van Allen belts.
The higher energy "defense" projects, such a
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It's offensive to everyone who pays taxes in the US allright...
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You've got some derp on your chin, chuckleclucker.
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Offense is defense, or anyway, it's part of it.
The invention of explosives and particularly the cannon spelled the absolute end of the old school form of defense, where you just built something and it kept something out. That shit is over. Now there is only one kind of defense, defense in depth. You have to have sacrificial resources out beyond the resources you care about because the first notion you have that you're under attack can be losses.
The higher energy "defense" projects, such as the nuclear pumped X-ray laser proposed for the Ronald Reagan era "Star Wars" program, can't be aimed at spacecraft.
They sure can, if they're located in space. Atmosphere can be i
Propaganda much? (Score:2)
We never stop — always vigilant — and we never fail. Because that's how important this mission is to our nation. We provide decision-quality data to tactical war fighters on the ground, to save their lives.
When you're at the top, the target's on your back. Everybody's shooting for you.
I would bet on U.S. industry any day. It's a huge advantage that we have.
That's some class-A propaganda you've got there, sonny.
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That's some class-A propaganda you've got there, sonny.
Only when an R is in office. Right now it's good old American pride.
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I don't believe the military-industrial complex is partisan.
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Right, they're selling to every side equally.
Hey profit before patriotism!
Post Trump CNN (Score:2)
This is indistinguishable from a paid advert. One wonders now that Trump is gone and the viewers with him, what CNN will come up with to make money.
Trash summaries (Score:1)
Aren't these things at the top supposed to be summaries? Stop wasting my time with lazy copy-pastes, Slashdot.
Bitter truth (Score:3)
Russia and China also have directed-energy weapons, which can damage or disable U.S. satellites from a distance.
It's not going to stop. USA is trying to defeat enemy ICBMs using satellites, but both Russia and China love their ICBMs too much to allow this to happen without a fight. Anything could be expected from now on - anti-satellite lasers, railguns, particle cannons, even bloody space nukes. Every side will be ready to blast enemy satellites off the sky, should the sh1t hit the fan, rules or no rules.
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Is this article telling me I'm suddenly supposed to take them seriously? Sounds like it's still a joke.
My prediction (Score:1)
When there is an actual hot war between 2 of the super powers, whole of space will be denied to all of humanity for 100s of years due to kessler syndrome.
And hopefully, when that happens, the rest of the world turns on those 2 super powers and destroys them, since they have set back humanity by centuries.
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The only super power the world can do without on short notice is Russia. So I'm hoping rather that nobody tries destroying any super powers... especially given the risk of nuclear death throes
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pfft, the "rest of the world" can't do shit which is why they aren't doing much in space. Only USA has put men on another world, and has put craft to the farthest reaches of space. Soviet Union had amazing achievement of landings on Venus and balloon probes in atmosphere, robotic rover on moon... but bureaucracy mostly tore their space exploration program apart, and being a shitty form of government tore Soviet Union apart, lolz.
Re: (Score:1)
If the world was denied space access 40 years ago, before internet, instant communications, various forms of GPS, weather monitoring, etc from space was even a thing, nobody would have noticed. Now whole world is dependant on space access, directly or indirectly.
Right now, as I recall, there are many other nations/blocs sending stuff to space, without being a super power. Some of the bigger ones are EU, India, Japan, etc. Even Iran, North Korea, etc claim to be sending up the occasional rockets / satellites
This is literally state propaganda (Score:1)
They do what now? (Score:1)
From the opening line, "Space Force Guardians, as they're known, fly the nation's missile warning satellites", which are in geosynch. How much delta-v do they have? Are they allowed to change their orbits, or do they have to keep the same target area centered? My guess is, as far as delta-v, not a lot (gotta preserve some for graveyard orbit), and re orbit changes, not without permission from way up (barring emergency). So can they be said to "fly" the satellites, or are they watching the results and wa
and we never fail (Score:2)
Famous last words.
haha (Score:2)
I should care what CNN puts out? Better to listen to alien theories from flat earthers.
Obvious answer: they aren't. (Score:2)
No US territory has been attacked by a foreign military wince WWII.
No US state has been invaded since 1812.
None of the military industrial complex was ever about defending the United States. It was always about taking over from the Brits as the biggest imperialist assholes on the planet.
Space Force a new rice bowl to be funded. (Score:2)
Funny that the party of limited government keep creating new Government Departments that create their own management chains, multilevel bureaucracy and governmental inefficiencies. Dept of Homeland Security (cabinet level under Bush Jr) and Space Force under Trump.
Sequel (Score:2)
That's it... I'm joining (Score:1)
If I could finagle some kind of honorary commission in the Space Force then I think my life would be complete...