After being one of the largest economies (the other is China), the USA now has plans to dominate the space. Is it possible?
United States President Donald Trump on Monday said the US will continue to dominate in space while pledging not to let countries like China and Russia outpace it. Stressing on the US commercial space industry’s spending power and enterprising spirit, Trump said the US will lead the exploration of the Moon and Mars in future, as well as any space race that might happen.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said, “It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.”
“America will always be the first in space. We don’t want China and Russia and other countries leading us. We’ve always led.” He added: “My administration is reclaiming America’s heritage as the world’s greatest space-faring nation.”
The US President issued orders to create a “Space Force”, which he said would be “separate but equal” from the Air Force.
“We must have American dominance in space. Very importantly, I’m hereby directing the Department of Defence and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That’s a big step,” he said during a meeting of his National Space Council.
“We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force: separate but equal, it is going to be something so important,” Trump was quoted by a leading news agency as saying.
The “Space Force” would require the nod of the Congress to become operational – it has already led to a controversy at the Pentagon and among lawmakers.
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The United States, however, is a member of the Outer Space Treaty, which bars the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space and only allows for the use of the moon and other celestial bodies for peaceful purposes.
He said Russia and China had developed highly sophisticated anti-satellite weapons, which, if deployed, could take down key US assets like radar and GPS leaving the US military exposed on Earth.
“War on Earth has been expanding out into space since 1991, and the United States is the most space reliant military in the world,” he said.
“If it wants to keep its advantages it has to have space… our competitors know this.”
Mr Trump also signed a directive on the management of traffic and debris in space.
His announcements were his administration’s latest moves to scale up US space exploration.
The United States wants to send robotic explorers to the moon as soon as next year as a preparatory step towards sending astronauts back there for the first time since 1972, a NASA official said on Monday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning a series of lunar missions beginning next year aimed at developing the capacity for a return to the moon, said Cheryl Warner, a spokeswoman for NASA’s Human Exploration Directorate.
Ever since Trump was elected the US president, he has talked about sending people back to the Moon as a step towards the first manned mission to Mars.
“When it comes to defending America it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space, we must have American dominance in space,” Trump said.
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