With the launch of the SpaceX rocket on Saturday, May 30, America has taken a big step in the race for supremacy in space. Nonetheless, China, as usual in the previous decade, is not inclined to provide the United States with an open path, but intends to make his own mark in the race.

China’s Space Progress

It has been almost two decades since China launched a manned space mission for the first time. At the end of 2003, Beijing sent Yang Liwei into orbit. Since then he has been celebrated as a national hero and an inspiration for upcoming generations. To date, ten more Chinese astronauts have followed in Yang’s footsteps.

However, the total of nine men and two women will not be maintained for much longer, as China has been consistently expanding its ambitious space program for years — and as with all Chinese projects, this too at immense speed, effort and financial commitment.

It was not until the beginning of May that the Chinese space agency tested a new spacecraft prototype. The capsule launched unmanned from the southern Chinese island of Hainan, circled the earth for a good two and a half days during which various devices and functions onboard the space shuttle was tested remotely. Just over a week later, the space shuttle hung on a giant parachute and landed safely in the no-man’ s-land of northern China.

China’s New Space Capsule

According to latest media reports, the new Chinese space capsule aims to carry up to seven astronauts into space at the same time. Zhou Jianping, the chief developer of China’s manned space program, appeared in Beijing the previous Sunday and stated that China’s space travel, unlike the May project, will not be restricted to Earth orbit flights in the future. Instead, China seeks to go to the moon and even beyond it.

In order to facilitate China’s ambition vision, the roadmap stipulates that a new, relatively large space station will first be put into orbit in the next few years. Moreover, a Chinese woman is set to go to the moon for the first time within the next ten years.

Beijing Wants it All

For the communist leadership in Beijing, the space program is about more than just research and science. The project is also associated with enormous political and propaganda component, especially with regard to China’s hegemonic aspirations.

The country is focussed and expresses a “strictly business-attitude” when asked about its plans for space. While the American NASA and the European ESA like to present themselves relatable and accessible, the Chinese space agency is strict and almost martial in its modus operandi. In China, space travel is classified and a matter for the military. Moreover, like everything in China, space travel is under the command of the Communist Party and its leader, head of state Xi Jinping.

‘Strong Space Nation’

Wu Weiren, head of the Chinese space program, said that Xi Jinping ordered him to explore the universe and make China a strong space nation. One now seeks to realize the leader’s vision for his country.

There are no official figures about the budget of the Chinese space program. The estimates range from around two to eight billion euros per year. Unlike in Europe or the USA, the dictatorship in China does not openly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of spending on space – it does not have to.

Moreover, due to the lack of elections or legislative periods in China, long-term planning of the Chinese space program is also much easier than in democratic nations. China is, therefore, in a comfortable situation to face the race for space supremacy and is evidently not only inclined to obtain the latter but willing to achieve success at all cost.

L'articolo Regardless of SpaceX, China is Not Resting in its Quest for Space Supremacy proviene da InsideOver.

Critics mocked US Senator Ted Cruz when he suggested that space piracy is a concern. This led to funny memes that inserted various sci fi characters into the role of space pirates. But the international treaties regarding space law were based on maritime principles so Cruz’s statement was actually less outlandish than critics made it seem. The giggle factor in discusses outer space is the central problem with any concern of the Space Force. Talk of piracy or using camouflage on space uniforms seem silly when the public encounters them but less so when discussing the actual details and role of the space force.

What Is The US Space Force?

The Space Force is the first newly independent branch of the armed forces since the creation of the Air Force in 1947. Space Force was officially launched on December 20, 2019 and the arguments for and against an independent air force which were advanced back when it was launched are also being argued with regard to Space Force. The main argument against specialized branches of the military is that it concentrates resources on missions with laser like focus, overlooking other aspects. But these arguments discount the variety of specializations that each branch contains. For example, the F35 has variants for each branch of service because the navy operates planes on its carriers, the army trains in amphibious assaults, and the Air Force has security personnel on the ground.

The Space Force’s Role Going Forward

Space Force brings the same positives of specialization and negatives of redundancy. But since the Space Force exists it can now be a branch dedicated to space matters like protecting satellites, exploring the capabilities of US assets in low orbit and testing systems that can be deployed as additional missile defense. They will do so in ways that sometimes compete instead of complimenting the cyber security of the army, missile defenses of fleets, and the air force observations of potential launches against satellites, but the Space Force will still be helpful to US national security.

Space is categorized by extreme heat and cold, lack of oxygen, and low gravity which will benefit from a specialized trained force. The largest threat would be an orbital Pearl Harbor strike against satellites by potential adversaries. One writer described a fictional cyber war in 2030 where China launched preemptive hacking and malware attacks that penetrated satellites using their comparatively primitive microwave system. The counter striking US drones suddenly drop their missiles which harmlessly sink into the sea. China escalates by launches advances missiles at the bulky and exposed satellites. The advanced sensors on the F35 go blank and they can’t relay the needed information to the navy’s overlapping layers of missile defense and the ships themselves have to rely on the sun and the stars to navigate back to port before they are hit by advancing missile swarms.

Space Force: New Defenses Against Cyber Warfare And Missile Attacks

The Space Force would be tasked with developing new defenses against both cyber warfare and missile attacks to prevent that scenario. The software can be updated and stress tested for weaknesses. Space Force could physically harden the satellites leading to potential mocking headlines like “space armor against space pirates.” But it remains vital.

Moving to more proactive measures, the Space Force can design lasers, defensive ballistic missiles, or rail guns that can be based on the ground or in space. Each of these materials has its own benefits and draw backs. Intercepting missiles are the most common in America’s arsenal but as the Saudi’s found in Iran’s drone attack on their oil facilities, it is not perfect. There are some missiles designed to intercept in high orbit such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles. They could be transferred to the Space Force for interception training. Lasers provide unlimited ammunition (as long as they are powered) but are still experimental. This means that American forces won’t have to use expensive, million dollar, missiles to stop other missiles. Rail guns have been tested with launching rockets into space, but they could be used as interceptors for missiles. They can destroy enemy missiles using the energy of its impact, which like lasers, will mean ammunition becomes far less expensive. There are suggestions that they launch projectiles fast enough (near Mach 6) to launch off the moon or in space. The Space Force then will be researching new ways to use weapons to defend satellites.

So far the discussion over Space Force has focused on defense, but one reason why America is so worried about the placement of defensive Chinese weapons in the South China Sea is that defensive weapons also have offensive uses. The Space Force can develop weapons that not only defend against incoming missiles, but assist air, ground and sea forces. This sounds like a dangerous militarization of space. But unfortunately, other powers have already developed weapons with the potential to strike American satellites. Just like the Cold War that produced a rough parity, offensive-minded weapons can provide a deterring effect and bring peace.

Science fiction has presented many ideas over the years, but we are entering a new era where the Space Force makes laser defense, hardened satellites, and rail gun launched counter attacks real. It is imperative that governments understand and take this into account.

L'articolo Space Pirates and Orbital Pearl Harbor: Understanding the US Space Force proviene da InsideOver.

Decades after the end of the space race, it is time for a new competition over the final frontier. US President Donald Trump signed the US Space Force into law Dec. 23, officially inaugurating the newest branch of the US armed forces: Space Force. Although Washington celebrated the ceremonious occasion, Beijing was not as joyous.

Geng Shuang, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, condemned the action, telling reporters his government was “resolutely opposed” to the creation of the US Space Force.

“The relevant U.S. actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security,” he said.

China’s Plans to Control Space

The Chinese government is against the idea of America’s newest military branch, but considering that Beijing is generally set against anything coming out of Washington, that is of little surprise. Geng’s declaration that Space Force is detrimental to the sanctity of outer space is also hypocritical given Beijing’s actions. At no point during his press briefing did Geng mention the Chinese destruction of a satellite via missile in 2007, an event that helped prompt an American response to secure space. Vice President Mike Pence even cited it as a reason for expanding America’s military presence in August 2018. 

“Our adversaries have transformed space into a war-fighting domain already. And the United States will not shrink from this challenge,” Pence said at the Pentagon in 2018. “In 2007, China launched a missile that tracked and destroyed one of its own satellites—a highly provocative demonstration of China’s growing capability to militarize space.”

A 2015 defense white paper from Beijing detailed plans on capitalizing on control of space and it was from this report that China created the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), an organization tasked with electromagnetic spectrum, space, and cyberspace, essentially any aspect of unconventional warfare.

In 2017, the Secure World Foundation published an analysis titled “Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment.” The research and evidence behind the report heavily implicate China as making a massive push for space dominance. Sources with firsthand knowledge of operations at PLASSF said the military branch has an objective of “ensuring one’s ability to fully use space while at the same time limiting, weakening, and destroying an adversary’s space forces.”

China is not the sole aggressor on this new battlefield, either. According to Pence Russia is hard at work creating a laser to target satellites and missiles launched from the air that could reach outer space. 

The US Military Is Fully Onboard With Space Force

These developments gave all the justification needed for the Trump administration to roll out its vision for protecting US satellites. When weighed against the two alternatives—leaving space defenseless or under the Air Force umbrella—the decision to create the Space Force seemed like an easy choice, especially as it opens up the door to pour more of the US budget into defense spending. 

When Trump first floated the idea of Space Force, it was met with apprehension and derision. The name alone sounds like something from science fiction. Air Force Gen. John W. Raymond, Space Force commander, validated the need for it, however.

“I can tell you from my perspective, the scope, scale and complexity of that threat is alive and well and very concerning,” Raymond said, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Nov. 18. Raymond called for rapid development of both offensive and defensive weapons for use in space, something he revealed the Pentagon has already begun pursuing.

Washington is finally taking space seriously and Beijing does not approve. For China, however, it is a “rules for thee, but not for me” mentality. Just as it publicly denies its genocide against Uighurs and the Tiananmen Square massacre, the truth is often the opposite of what Beijing says. Its calls for a peaceful space should be interpreted as cynical cover of its own intention to control and weaponize space.

L'articolo US Space Force Challenges China’s Galactic Ambitions proviene da InsideOver.

“With my signature today, you are witnessing the birth of the Space Force, and it is now officially the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces,” said Trump at the Andrews Air Force base near Washington. Space was the newest military area of ​​operations.

And indeed, with President Trump’s signature under the 2020 defense budget, the path is clear for the creation of a new military unit, the first one since 1947. It is a significant success for Trump, who had campaigned for the formation of his Space Force. 

Trump has repeatedly called for space forces to be created. In August, he established a Spacecom military command for space. To found the actual Space Force, however, he needed Congress’ approval.

This month, amid all the impeachment shenanigans, Republicans and Democrats agreed in Congress to introduce Space Force by rebranding the existing Air Force Space Command.

Unlike the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, and the Marines or the Coast Guard, Space Force, just as the name indicates, will operate in a rather different area, i.e., space. The primary goal is to maintain the US’ hegemony in space, also because, according to Trump, it will become a new war front in the future. 

Space was a new war front, Trump said on Friday evening, making it clear that creating independent space forces was a big step. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also said the Space Force’s mission is to defend US domination in space.

The United States Space Force will become an additional unit in the military alongside those mentioned above. However, it is directly linked to the Air Force and will be led by General Jay Raymond. 

“He will be the very first member of the Space Force,” said Trump. The commander – who reports to the head of the Air Force – has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. The current plan does not provide for additional soldiers for the “Space Force,” these will be recruited from the Air Force, altogether 16,000 soldiers and civilians. 

When Trump first communicated his plans for Space Force to the public last year, it was primarily ridiculed. Too expensive and irrelevant. A pure symbol. Even the Defense Department had reservations about the President’s plans.

However, it is now clear that space plays an essential role in defense and modern warfare, for example, through satellite-based technologies and weapon systems. Even NATO declared space an independent military area this year. While French President Macron even announced the establishment of a military space command in July.

The USA currently dominates space, but Russia and China are catching up and have already registered their claims. While the current plans for the US do not include science fiction scenarios of deploying soldiers into orbit, Space Force will protect US property in space, such as hundreds of satellites that are being utilized for communicating and for gathering intelligence.

The timing is no coincidence. US military experts have continued to warn about China’s and Russia’s advancements in what is called the military’s final frontier. 

Vice-President Pence even stated that Russia, as well as China, possessed airborne lasers and anti-satellite missiles that the US needed to counter. “The space environment has fundamentally changed in the last generation,” he said. “What was once peaceful and uncontested is now crowded and adversarial.”

All three states had tested weapons that have the capacity of destroying a satellite, according to research by the Secure World Foundation, which records military capabilities in space.

L'articolo The Final Frontier: President Trump Introduces Space Force proviene da InsideOver.

Since last year the American president Donald Trump announced the coming creation of the so-called Space Force to have the United States ready for what he described as “the next war-fighting domain.” Other countries such as Japan, Israel and India have also joined the new space race along with billionaire entrepreneurs like Tesla’s founder Elon Musk.

The real news is not that rich private citizens are investing their wealth in trying to land onto other planets and build their satellites, but that the once-rivals Russia and China have decided to enter together the space race 2.0 despite the presence of issues that may undermine their strategic partnership.

Dreaming the Moon

In January when the Chinese-made Chang’e 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover reached the dark side of the moon as part of Beijing’s lunar plan, which was launched in 2007, it was finally clear to Russia, and the world as a whole, that the country is willing to play a major role not only on the Earth, but also in outer space.

China endeavours towards establishing a long-term presence on the Moon by the late 2020s through the construction of a robot-managed research base and to start other missions to carry out scientific and biological experiments. However, the US thinks that the real goal is the extraction of precious metals and rare minerals that would help Beijing build an unbreakable and long-lasting hegemony based on the possession of game-changing vital resources.

Soon after the Ukrainian crisis, Russia started talks with China on space cooperation which were ended in June 2018 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) concerning lunar and deep space exploration. The MoU was preceded a few months earlier by the Roscosmos-CSNA agreement for the building of a joint data centre and a deeper cooperation on space issues.

Russia is also interested in sending a manned mission by the late 2020s as part of a much wider and more ambitious plan aiming at establishing a human settlement during the 2030s and 2040s. Just like Beijing, Moscow’s ultimate goal is to evaluate the possibility of carrying out mining operations in the lunar subsoil and taking possession of rare earth elements and other unknown resources that may lead to technological breakthroughs.

And here the problems start; Russia and China are partnering together for the common goal to counter American outer space-level hegemonic ambitions, but they risk to clash against one another as the Moon and other planets are conquered since they are both seeking global dominance in the rare elements market through the conquest of space. Once again, their partnership is going to show all its intrinsic limits and their resource-hunger is likely to be used successfully by the other great powers in the absence of a resistive win-win compromise.

The other purpose: the US

The bilateral agreements have set many goals for the period of 2018-2022 and are intended to lay the foundation for a far-reaching Sino-Russian alliance capable of balancing the American grand strategy, whose goal may not only be limited to the extraction of other planets’ resources but extended to long-dreamed space militarization. Indeed, both countries are working on the co-development of space-related technologies easily usable for military purposes such as remote sensing, on-orbit instruments, space debris monitoring and destruction, space electronics, and laser weapons.

The Pentagon has been monitoring Russian and Chinese developments in laser and anti-satellite sectors for a long time as it considers them explicitly built to hit American targets in orbit, such as satellites. Those warnings dated years ago have now become a reality and Trump’s efforts to make the US recover ground on space warfare must be read within this context.

The new space race has just begun and already looks more chaotic and unpredictable than the first one and is surely more important for the humankind. Indeed it is no longer matter of sending men on the Moon but of building the outposts that will eventually be used as bridgeheads for the no-longer-sci-fi extraterrestrial colonisation.

L'articolo Russia and China Team Up to Conquer the Moon proviene da InsideOver.

No laser bolts; no starships slaloming asteroids; no infantrymen trading high-energy fire. Just 350 demurely dressed individuals crowded into a few Alabama conference rooms. That’s what space conflict looks like. But don’t let the Schriever Wargame’s austere image fool you – the scenario acted out by the US and her allies last week, how an orbital war may unfold in 2029, is of agenda-topping importance. Just days earlier, Donald Trump had unveiled a new ‘Space Command’, the military body that will defend America’s interests in the final frontier.

“The dangers to our country constantly evolve and so must we,” the president said, presenting the group who will have operational control of nearly all American space assets. Previously, orbital operations were the reserve of Strategic Command – one of eleven so-called ‘combatant commands’ that divvy up the US’s military might by geography and function. But with nuclear war – the group’s primary responsibility – dominating its attention, the push for a separate space division has been growing. 

It isn’t a new concept, a dedicated Space Command. One existed between 1985 and 2002, but 9/11 forced a shift in focus to homeland security, shunting the group to the periphery. Efforts to reinstate the command quickened under the Obama administration, however, and the unit’s official return was approved by Congress last year.

Where Trump departs from his predecessor is the desire for a ‘Space Force’, an entirely new military service – the first since the air force’s conception in 1947 – that would “organise, train and equip warriors” under Space Command’s authority. It is these men, women, and robots who would carry out the group’s four primary objectives: deterring space conflict, defending strategic orbital interests, assisting other combatant commands from above, and developing lethal warfighting options.    

“We can no longer have the luxury of assuming space superiority,” warned the new unit’s commander, Gen. Jay Raymond. He remained coy on who may be encroaching on the US’s galactic dominance, but there’s little doubt in the minds of analysts: Russia and China. The latter’s orbital aptitude has long been known – Beijing’s successful test of an anti-satellite missile in 2007 was the first by any nation since 1985. Russia, for its part, has a spacefaring heritage as prodigious as America’s. While cooperation between the two has defined recent civilian space initiatives, Vladimir Putin warned recently that his embryonic arms race with Trump could soon take on an extraterrestrial dimension.    

These mounting tensions must not be addressed with heightened deterrence alone, but with greater communication, experts argue. “The administration should resume the bilateral space security dialogues with Russia and China,” said Frank A. Rose, a security analyst at the Brookings Institution research group. “Given the current tensions in the bilateral relationships with both countries, having forums where the United States can deliver blunt messages is of particular importance”. 

That these messages must be backed up with an operational force, few could dispute – but there is concern over what, in practice, Space Force’s function would be. Critics warn that too great an emphasis on offensive capabilities could come at the expense of asset defence, rendering US satellites and other orbital systems vulnerable to attack. Similarly, overuse of assault options might lead to burgeoning ‘space debris’ – material sheared off during an attack – which could threaten spacefaring safety for decades.

Perhaps the greatest worry, however, is that the force be squandered on some of America’s more fanciful cosmic ventures. Schemes to colonise the Moon, then Mars, have won influential support in political, military and technological circles. One such proposal, brain-child of former Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, envisages lunar mining and manufacturing operations in the not-so-distant future. For a Space Force to be formed with a view to police such projects would be “absurd”, says Dr. Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation, a think-tank.

“The consequences are wasting time, effort, and resources on problems that might not matter for decades (if at all) instead of addressing the actual military space challenges of today. GPS is still relatively easy to jam, the military can’t reliably keep tabs on satellites and space debris, [and] US satellites are still very vulnerable to anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) attacks,” he added, speaking with InsideOver.

A bureaucratic quagmire will also have to be overcome if Trump’s Space Force is to take flight. Congressional approval isn’t guaranteed, nor is there unanimity between the House and Senate groups supportive of the proposals. Taking umbrage with its pugnacious title, Democrats would prefer the unit be named ‘Space Corps’, while the Republican-controlled Senate wants the creation of a fully-fledged service to be postponed for at least a year. Funding is also likely to be controversial, with opponents highlighting the military’s already exorbitant orbital spending allowance, which exceeds NASA’s $21.5bn annual budget.

But there’s little doubt that, sooner or later, space will become the next realm of human warfare. As states jostle for advantage in this arena, they will inevitably – despite the unfathomable expanse – come into conflict with one another. A skirmish 20,000 miles up is fraught with danger, but those pulling the strings will be focused on another fact: whoever prevails in the orbital fight will likely rule the terrestrial roost too.  

L'articolo Trump Unveils America’s New ‘Space Command’ proviene da InsideOver.