Space: the final frontier- and for our modern militaries, the indispensable 'high ground'.
Whereas decades ago, whoever controlled the sky would likely win the war, space has become
the new critical high ground that nations must protect and defend against their enemies
if they want to ensure victory.
In today’s episode of The Infographics Show, we ask: Space Force: What Would It Do?
Why is space so important to a modern military?
The answer to that question lies in the unique vantage point that space provides- with a
small constellation of satellites, you can see everything happening in the world at once,
and with cloud-penetrating radar, even a rainy day won't hide the enemy from your sight.
Being able to see means being able to target an enemy with today's high-tech weapons; everything
from cruise missiles to gps guided artillery shells take advantage of advanced recon capabilities
to locate, track, and destroy an enemy.
This is why we don't carpet-bomb our foes the way we used to back in World War II.
But space is important for communications too- typical radio communications only work
for short ranges, thanks to the curvature of the earth, and can be prone to atmospheric
interference or interception/jamming by the enemy.
With a satellite in orbit though, military units can always be in direct communication
with each other, no matter where in the world they are, and satellites allow a military
to deploy advanced and very secure communication technologies that are difficult to intercept
or jam.
Basically, space is important because with eyes in the sky, you can always see your enemy,
and you can always talk to your friends.
And with so many high-tech weapon systems, there's no nation on earth that space is more
important to than the United States, who, with 123 assets in space, has nearly twice
as many military satellites as Russia, the number 2 contender, with 74.
But what would an American Space Force do exactly?
Well, at first it wouldn't be as glamorous as what you see in sci-fi movies, though given
the rate of human technological advancement, it's only a matter of time before we take
to the stars and war inevitably comes with us.
The first job of a US Space Force would be to consolidate all the various space assets
each American military service branch has.
Right now, American military satellites are divided up between the major branches of the
military: the Air Force, Army, and Navy, as well as some of the federal institutions such
as the National Reconnaissance Office.
In the event of a major war, it may be hard to coordinate between all those assets and
share information freely back and forth between the services; this is where the US Space Force
would come in.
By consolidating US space assets into a single branch of the military, the Space Force would
make it easier to coordinate the sharing of critical information and respond to enemy
attempts to sabotage or destroy American military satellites.
Commanders in a battle zone would have just one agency to ask for help from, rather than
trying to get information from multiple agencies at once.
The Space Force would also be tasked with military surveillance and reconnaissance.
It would be responsible for developing new recon technologies and coordinating with American
industry on how to best get them into space.
Once in space, the Space Force would monitor for enemy activity and be ready to immediately
raise the alarm if an attack is suspected.
But Space Force surveillance would also be important during peacetime- in recent years
American space assets have been the leading source of information on the North Korean
nuclear program.
By carefully monitoring suspected test sites, American space assets were able to determine
when underground detonations were taking place, as well as estimating yield and even giving
insights to the type of weapon tested.
Reconnaissance photos of missile test sites showed us how close to building and perfecting
a long-range missile the North Koreans actually were.
In the future, the US Space Force would take over these duties, meaning its members would
have to be on constant alert against rogue states.
Another area of responsibility for the US Space Force would be in the realm of logistics.
Where it would take a day or more to move even just a few pieces of military hardware
from one place to the next by air, sea, or land, an orbital logistics hub could have
that same hardware anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
While this is still currently outside the realm of our technology, it's not as far off
as one might think, and America's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA,
has been looking into what it would take to deliver supplies from orbit to the ground
safely for years.
While in the next few years, we might see orbital drops of hardware such as food, ammunition
and medical supplies, it might not be long before American servicemen are themselves
stationed in orbit and ready to deploy within a moment's notice.
As one senior American official once said, “Getting 2,000 American boots on the ground
anywhere in the world within 2 hours could stop a lot of wars before they even begin.”
But why put troops in space if you can put weapons instead?
While the militarization of space is a hot-button topic, and most American defense officials
are not eager to open up another arena of weaponized conflict, the reality is that in
all likelihood someone sooner or later will put physical weapons in space.
Despite the Outer Space Treaty banning weapons of mass destruction in space, it does not
specifically prohibit conventional weapons- a fact that the Soviet Union took advantage
of in the 1970s when it was the first, and only, nation to put a weapon in space.
Installed aboard its Almaz space station, the R-23M Kartech cannon was designed to fire
explosive shells at American space vessels.
But the Kartech was only the tip of the iceberg for what's possible if you really want to
weaponize space.
Known as 'Rods From God' and codenamed Thor, the US military studied the possibility of
creating an orbital strike platform that used nothing more than solid tungsten rods about
20 feet long and 1 foot in diameter to deliver devastating bombardments against enemy installations
or troop concentrations.
Hopelessly outnumbered by the hordes of Soviet tanks that threatened to swallow up Cold War
Europe, American scientists were looking for a way to neutralize large armored columns
without the use of nuclear weapons and thus avoid the risk of nuclear war.
They theorized that using kinetic energy alone, a telephone pole-sized rod made of solid tungsten
and equipped only with a very basic guidance package and a pair of fins, could deliver
a blast along the lines of a small tactical nuclear weapon.
Physics shows that they weren't wrong- dropped from orbit, those rods would have reached
speeds up to ten times the speed of sound.
Since Force = Mass times Acceleration, each rod would have generated an incredible amount
of energy.
Despite President Trump's executive order, the purpose and aim of the US Space Force
is still under official review, with most defense insiders saying that the need for
a dedicated space force isn't yet critical.
Yet as the expansion of the American commercial space industry has shown, humanity's expansion
into the solar system and beyond is inevitable, and as our own history shows: where man goes,
war follows.
Eventually the United States and every other modern nation on earth is going to need a
space force, or be at the mercy of those who have one.
So, what do you think about the US Space Force?
Should the US be preparing for future conflicts now so as to help prevent them in the first
place, or would it only invite other nations to start militarizing space?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Also be sure to check out our other video called Moab - the Mother of All Bombs.
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!