The United States armed forces protect the country on the ground, at sea, and in the air. Now President Donald Trump wants to add space to that list of places.
Trump recently instructed the Department of Defense to look into the possibility of a Space Force to promote “American dominance in space.” If such a force is approved, it will join the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard as the sixth branch of the U.S. military.
Here is a quick look at what we know about a potential United States Space Force.
Q: Why might the U.S. need a Space Force?
A: In short, say experts, to protect our satellites—spacecraft that have been launched into Earth’s orbit to collect and transmit data. “If a country wants to fight the United States, one of the first things it will want to do is disrupt or destroy our satellites,” says Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Satellites allow our bombs and missiles to hit targets accurately [as well as] send information to our military forces around the world.”
Russia and China, which have the ability to destroy satellites or jam their signals, pose the biggest worries to the Pentagon, Harrison says.
Right now, protecting satellites is mainly the U.S. Air Force’s job. Critics of a Space Force say creating a new armed services branch would take crucial funds from the Air Force. They also fear it would add another layer of
Harrison notes that other functions of space security are now divided among different armed forces. He says, “A Space Force would integrate all of them into one chain of command.”