<h2>&#8220;Unacceptable&#8221; Threat</h2>
On March 27, India <a href="https://futurism.com/india-just-shot-down-a-live-satellite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested a satellite-destroying missile</a> by blowing up one of its own satellites, which was orbiting about 186 miles above the Earth.
&#8220;The test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space debris,&#8221; the Ministry of External Affairs <a href="https://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/31179/Frequently+Asked+Questions+on+Mission+Shakti+Indias+AntiSatellite+Missile+test+conducted+on+27+March+2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote on its website</a>. &#8220;Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks.&#8221;
But NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is publicly disagreeing, telling the agency&#8217;s employees <a href="https://youtu.be/o2gz2E-Wrws" target="_blank" rel="noopener">during a Monday town hall</a> that 24 pieces of debris are now at an altitude above the International Space Station&#8217;s 250 miles, posing an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-junk-india-destroying-missile-threaten-international-space-station-terrible-thing-2019-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;unacceptable&#8221; threat</a> to the astronauts on board.
<h2>Dangerous Debris</h2>
According to Bridenstine, NASA is now tracking about 60 pieces of debris from India&#8217;s satellite, each about six inches or bigger, but other pieces not large enough to track could pose a threat to the ISS as well.
In total, he says India&#8217;s satellite test has increased the likelihood of the ISS colliding with debris by 44 percent over a 10-day period.
&#8220;That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station,&#8221; Bridenstine said. &#8220;That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-junk-india-destroying-missile-threaten-international-space-station-terrible-thing-2019-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8216;A terrible, terrible thing&#8217;: NASA said India&#8217;s satellite destruction created so much space junk it now threatens the safety of the International Space Station</a>
More on the satellite: <a href="https://futurism.com/india-just-shot-down-a-live-satellite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Just Shot Down a Satellite With a Missile</a>

India's missile test has increased the likelihood of damage to the ISS.

NASA: When India blew up a satellite, it endangered astronauts

Collision Course

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has told the agency's employees that India's satellite destruction test has put the ISS in danger.

NASA: When India Blew up a Satellite, It Endangered Astronauts

The missile test was "a terrible, terrible thing," the leader of NASA said.

<h2>Satellite Killer</h2>
Indian authorities claim to have successfully tested an anti-satellite missile.
&#8220;India is now a major space power,&#8221; said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/live-updates-prime-minister-narendra-modi-to-address-nation-shortly-with-important-message-2013489">local news</a>. &#8220;India has achieved a big feat today.&#8221;
<h2>Election Season</h2>
The destroyed satellite was one of India&#8217;s own, orbiting the Earth at 186 miles (300 km). The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-satellite-missile-system-shakti-test-modi-space-a8841381.html">Independent reports</a> that it may have been a mini-satellite launched into orbit a month ago for this purpose. The interceptor missile was launched from a launch complex on the East coast of India on Wednesday morning.
&#8220;India has always maintained that space should not be an arena for warfare and that remains unchanged in spite of this,&#8221; Mohdi said, according to <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/live-updates-prime-minister-narendra-modi-to-address-nation-shortly-with-important-message-2013489">local media</a>. &#8220;India has always been a nation of peace, but we also defend ourselves. It is with that intention that we achieved this capability.&#8221;
The news comes in the midst of election season in India, with polls opening in several weeks. The move could be a bid to bolster Modi&#8217;s chances at re-election, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-successfully-tests-satellite-killer-missile-11553679166">according to The Wall Street Journal</a>.
<h2>Space Arms Race</h2>
India isn&#8217;t the only world nation that has carried out such a test. China claims to have carried out a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116918220947281339?mod=article_inline">successful test</a> in  2007, the U.S. <a href="https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/first-space-ace-180968349/">in 1985</a>. The Pentagon has recently warned of both China and Russia developing anti-satellite technology, including <a href="https://futurism.com/space-force-arms-race">jammers</a> and even <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/laser-weapons-us-satellites">lasers</a> capable of disrupting or damaging satellites in orbit.
Whether India&#8217;s test will fuel the race to become the dominant nation in low-Earth orbit and beyond, or, as India claims, &#8220;secure and further peace&#8221; is still uncertain.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-successfully-tests-satellite-killer-missile-11553679166">India Successfully Tests Satellite-Killer Missile</a> [Wall Street Journal] 

More on satellite killers: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/laser-weapons-us-satellites">Pentagon Warns That Enemies Could Shoot US Satellites with Lasers</a>

"India has always been a nation of peace, but we also defend ourselves."

India just shot down a satellite with a missile

Satellite Down

Indian authorities claim they have successfully tested an anti-satellite missile. Prime minister Narendra Modi claimed it as a big win in the media.

India Just Shot Down a Satellite With a Missile

"India has become a major space power."

<h2>Harpooning Space Debris</h2>
Junk floating around in Earth&#8217;s orbit is becoming <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-starlink-satellites-space-debris">a big problem</a>. Bits of man-made debris can pose a big threat to satellites circling our planet. But a team of British engineers might have a clever solution.
The team of researchers from the University of Surrey used the RemoveDEBRIS satellite — a satellite specifically designed to eliminate space junk that launched on board a SpaceX Falcon rocket in April 2018 — to launch a harpoon at a (previously set up) piece of test debris at 20 meters a second (44 mph).
<iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3oryJMdonUA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;Successful in space demonstration of the harpoon technology is a significant step towards solving the growing issue of space debris,&#8221; said Chris Burgess, Harpoon Lead Engineer at Airbus Defence and Space said in a <a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/harpoon-successfully-captures-space-debris">press release</a>.
<h2>Caught in a Web</h2>
The test is actually the RemoveDEBRIS satellite&#8217;s second trick: in September, it successfully <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/removedebris-space-debris">deployed a spider-like web</a>  that was meant to grab space junk out of the sky.
The team at the University of Surrey is now preparing for its third and final test: RemoveDEBRIS will inflate a sail that will slowly drag it into Earth&#8217;s atmosphere where it will burn up and be destroyed.
READ MORE: <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-space-junk-harpooned-whale-orbit-cleanup.html">Space junk harpooned like whale in orbit-cleanup test</a> [Associated Press]
More on RemoveDEBRIS: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/removedebris-space-debris">UK Researchers Just Deployed a Massive Net to Catch Space Debris</a>

The satellite already deployed a web meant to catch space debris out of the sky.

Watch a harpoon attached to a satellite spear a piece of space debris

RemoveDEBRIS

A team of engineers at the University of Surrey launched a 4.9 foot harpoon from a satellite at a piece of space debris to catch it out of the sky.

Watch a Harpoon Attached to a Satellite Spear a Piece of Space Debris

The satellite still has one more trick up its sleeve.

<h2>Battle Ready</h2>
For the past year, the U.S. has been throwing around the idea of establishing a &#8220;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/pentagon-russia-china-laser-threat/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Space Force</a>&#8221; to prepare it for off-world warfare.
On Monday, the public got a clearer idea of just what kind of battles the nation expects might be on the horizon: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/pentagon-russia-china-laser-threat/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">satellite attacks</a> by laser weapons. In other words, the real world is sounding more like &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; every day.
<h2>Major Lasers</h2>
On Monday, the Pentagon released a <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2019/Feb/11/2002088710/-1/-1/1/SPACE-SECURITY-CHALLENGES.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> titled &#8220;Challenges to Security in Space&#8221; in which a key claim is that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are in the process of developing technologies they could use to attack U.S. satellites.
According to the report, at least two of these nations — China and Russia — are &#8220;likely&#8221; pursuing &#8220;laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors.&#8221;
&#8220;China likely will field a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors by 2020,&#8221; the report reads, &#8220;and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites.&#8221;
Russia, meanwhile, already has a land-based laser weapon the Pentagon believes is &#8220;likely intended for an anti-satellite mission.&#8221; The nation is now reportedly &#8220;developing an airborne (anti-satellite) laser weapon system to use against space-based missile defense sensors.&#8221;
<h2>Vital Network</h2>
The <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/what-are-satellites-used-for#.XGMHvs9KiV4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">importance of satellites</a> to modern life — not just modern military operations — is nearly impossible to overstate. The devices play an integral role in our abilities to communicate with one another, navigate the world around us, study important issues such as climate change, and much more.
If one nation did want to wreak havoc on another, taking out its satellites would certainly do the trick. So if the intel behind the Pentagon&#8217;s new report is solid, it&#8217;s imperative that the U.S. find ways to counter any laser threats to U.S. satellites — no matter how much they may sound like science fiction.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/pentagon-russia-china-laser-threat/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Pentagon Report Warns of Russian and Chinese Laser Threats to US Satellites</a> [CNN]
More on the space force: <a href="https://futurism.com/trump-announces-space-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The US May Soon Have the World’s First Space Force</a>

An attack on U.S. satellites would hurt far more than just the military.

Pentagon warns that enemies could shoot US satellites with lasers

Space Insecurity

A newly released Pentagon report details the laser weapons likely in development by China and Russia to attack U.S. satellites.

Pentagon Warns That Enemies Could Shoot US Satellites With Lasers

China and Russia are "likely" developing "laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites."

<h2>Final Countdown</h2>
After <a href="https://www.space.com/42929-spy-satellite-nrol-71-launch-delayed-again.html">multiple delays</a>, bad weather, and a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/watch-us-spy-satellite-launch-fail-seconds-before-liftoff">dramatic last-second abort</a>, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) is hoping to finally send a top secret spy satellite into space today.
The satellite is scheduled to launch on top of a ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California  at  2:05 p.m. EST. According to the <a href="https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/delta-iv-nrol-71">ULA</a>, it&#8217;s the 38th time a Delta IV rocket has been launched since 2002.
A handful of failed attempts have delayed the launch of the mission that was originally scheduled for early December. A <a href="https://www.space.com/42929-spy-satellite-nrol-71-launch-delayed-again.html">launch attempt</a> in mid December was aborted when engineers noticed a hydrogen leak coming from one of the boosters. More issues with the rocket delayed launch again earlier this month.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Fueling of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DeltaIVHeavy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DeltaIVHeavy</a> is underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for today&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NROL71?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NROL71</a> launch at 11:05 am PST. Follow along with our Live Launch Blog for countdown reports: <a href="https://t.co/W9zB6LUGpw">https://t.co/W9zB6LUGpw</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y476hBnuVT">pic.twitter.com/Y476hBnuVT</a>
&mdash; ULA (@ulalaunch) <a href="https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1086647205845319680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<h2>Highly Classified</h2>
ULA vice president Gary Wentz called the mission a &#8220;high-priority mission for the nation&#8217;s warfighters&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/science/us-to-launch-secret-spy-satellite-saturday">in a statement</a> earlier this month. But otherwise, details about the satellites on board are sparse.
In fact, the mission is so classified, the public stream of the launch will <a href="https://www.space.com/43057-spy-satellite-launch-nrol-71-launch-webcast.html">cut out</a> after only six minutes to protect NRO&#8217;s mission from prying eyes, according to Space.com.
But you&#8217;ll be able to live stream those first few minutes on <a href="https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/delta-iv-nrol-71">ULA&#8217;s website</a>.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.space.com/43057-spy-satellite-launch-nrol-71-launch-webcast.html">US Launching Secret Spy Satellite Today! Here&#8217;s How to Watch Live</a>
More on the U.S. spy satellite: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/watch-us-spy-satellite-launch-fail-seconds-before-liftoff">Watch a U.S. Spy Satellite Launch Fail Seconds Before Liftoff</a>

The mission was originally scheduled for early December.

The U.S. is planning to launch a classified spy satellite today

Spy Satellites

After multiple delays, bad weather, and a dramatic last-second abort, the United Launch Alliance is launching top secret spy satellite into space today.

Watch the U.S. Launch a Classified Spy Satellite Today

Third time's a charm.

<h2>Around and Around</h2>
Seems like everything in the universe is orbiting something. The Moon orbits the Earth, which orbits the Sun, which orbits the center of the Milky Way.
But it doesn&#8217;t stop there. Galaxies can even orbit other galaxies, and now, an international team of astronomers has discovered a new satellite galaxy around our own Milky Way — and it&#8217;s a weird one.
<h2>Howdy, Neighbor</h2>
According to a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.04082" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> published in arXiv earlier in November, the researchers discovered this new dwarf galaxy, which they call Antlia 2 — or &#8220;Ant 2&#8221; — while sifting through data collected by the European Space Agency’s <a href="https://futurism.com/an-ambitious-spacecraft-is-set-to-advance-humanity-further-than-we-dreamed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gaia satellite</a>.
As for how an entire galaxy escaped detection for so long, especially given its close proximity to our own, a couple of factors come into play. For one, Ant 2 is located behind the Milky Way’s disc — an ideal hiding spot. It&#8217;s also extremely low in density, giving off very little light.
&#8220;This is a ghost of a galaxy,&#8221; researcher Gabriel Torrealba said in a <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/gaia-spots-a-ghost-galaxy-next-door" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. &#8220;Objects as diffuse as Ant 2 have simply not been seen before. Our discovery was only possible thanks to the quality of the Gaia data.&#8221;
<h2>Galactic Weirdo</h2>
Ant 2 isn&#8217;t the only galaxy known to orbit our own, but it is &#8220;an oddball,&#8221; according to researcher Matthew Walker. It&#8217;s relatively massive — roughly a third of the size of the the Milky Way — and the researchers are perplexed as to how it might have gotten that way.
&#8220;Normally, as galaxies lose mass to the Milky Way’s tides, they shrink, not grow,&#8221; researcher Sergey Koposov said in the press release.
Knowing that this unusual galaxy exists has left the astronomers curious about what else they might be missing in our galactic backyard. “We are wondering whether this galaxy is just the tip of an iceberg,&#8221; said Walker, &#8220;and the Milky Way is surrounded by a large population of nearly invisible dwarfs similar to this one.”
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/gaia-spots-a-ghost-galaxy-next-door" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gaia Spots a ‘Ghost’ Galaxy Next Door</a> [University of Cambridge]
More on Gaia: <a href="https://futurism.com/an-ambitious-spacecraft-is-set-to-advance-humanity-further-than-we-dreamed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An Ambitious Spacecraft Is Set to Advance Humanity Further Than We Dreamed</a>

The "oddball" satellite has astronomers wondering what else they're missing.

Scientists discover a "ghost of a galaxy" orbiting the Milky Way

Spooky Satellite

Researchers looking at Gaia satellite data have discovered a new galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, and not only is it massive, it's also "ghostly."

Scientists Discover a “Ghost of a Galaxy” Orbiting the Milky Way

It's both massive and extremely diffuse. 

OFF-WORLD NAVIGATION. Today, all you have to do to find your way around a new city is fire up Google Maps, Waze, or one of the many other <a href="https://futurism.com/gps-tracking-centimeter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GPS-based navigation</a> apps available. Follow the steps, and, bam, you get where you need to go.
We don&#8217;t have that same luxury in space. But now, researchers from NASA&#8217;s <a href="http://www.frontierdevelopmentlab.org/#!/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frontier Development Lab (FDL)</a> and Intel are working to change that. They&#8217;ve found a way to make it just as easy to navigate a new planet — they just needed a little help from artificial intelligence (AI) to do it.
They presented their planetary navigation research during an <a href="https://frontierdevelopmentlab.org/eventhorizon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Intel-hosted event</a> on August 16.
NON-GLOBAL GPS. GPS stands for &#8220;global positioning system,&#8221; and it&#8217;s just that: global. The satellites that let the system know your location so your app can give you directions to that new restaurant don&#8217;t work when you&#8217;re not on Earth.
Since positioning a similar system of satellites around every moon or planet we&#8217;d like to explore would be really difficult and expensive, NASA and Intel set out to create a different kind of planetary navigation system.
If we could feed an AI enough pictures of the surface of a celestial body, they determined, a person could simply take a photo of their surroundings and the system would be able to figure out where they were and give them directions to the place they wanted to be.
FROM THE MOON TO MARS. To see if this kind of system could work, the researchers built a virtual moon.
&#8220;[F]or our approach, using the real Moon isn’t actually critical,&#8221; researcher Andy Chung told Futurism. &#8220;It would likely improve performance in a real mission, but a key point of our work is that it teaches a network to learn general distortions caused by general landscape topologies.&#8221;
To construct this moon, the team first created 2.4 million images of its surface that were taken by a rover (or, at least would have been if the planet had been real). They fed the images captured by these hypothetical cameras to their AI, which put them together to create the virtual moon.
According to the team&#8217;s presentation, this was enough to effectively enable navigation on the virtual moon&#8217;s surface.
Next, they want to try to do the same thing with a real (not virtual) celestial body: Mars. They think they have enough satellite images to make it happen. If they&#8217;re right, the first people to walk on the Red Planet could find that all they have to do to navigate around the Martian surface is just take a picture.
READ MORE: <a href="https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2018/08/22/nasa-is-developing-ai-to-give-directions-in-space/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA Is Developing AI to Give Directions in Space</a> [The Next Web]
More on GPS: <a href="https://futurism.com/gps-tracking-centimeter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GPS Tracking Is Now Accurate Down to the Centimeter</a>
Editor’s note 8/24/18 at 12:45 PM ET: This article was updated to include comments from researcher Andy Chung.

It could help us know where we're going when we explore other planets and moons.

NASA is making an AI-based GPS for space

Artificial Intelligence

Researchers used AI to create a planetary navigation system that would allow humans to find their way around foreign planets and moons.

NASA Is Making an AI-Based GPS for Space

Navigating the surface of Mars could be as easy as taking a photo.

A small LED starts flashing in a dark room crowded with server racks, desks, and office chairs. On a glowing wall of monitors, lines of hundreds of tiny dots appear, mapping out the trajectory of a satellite currently orbiting the Earth. &#8220;It&#8217;s Kanopus-V-IK again,&#8221; mumbles a bored Space Force surveillance specialist. &#8220;It&#8217;s getting too close for my liking. Should we engage the jammer again?&#8221;
We don&#8217;t know what war in space will be like. But chances are, it won&#8217;t be like &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; — it&#8217;ll be more like that.
Outer space is no longer a mysterious place onto which we can map our aspirations. It&#8217;s never been cheaper and easier to launch a satellite into space. But in our effort to improve life on Earth and observe what we can of the cosmos, we&#8217;ve littered the space around our planet with growing quantities of junk.
The space surrounding Earth is getting so crowded that countries like the U.S., Russia, and China are starting to wonder who it will actually end up belonging to, and what they&#8217;ll have to do to keep control over it (yes, we have <a href="https://www.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm">outer space treaties</a> saying that it belongs to everyone, but who cares).
<q class="pullquote">Countries are starting to wonder who will actually own space, and what they&#8217;ll have to do to keep control over it.</q>
And so, the idea of the Space Force was born.
&#8220;Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea,&#8221; President Donald Trump told an <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/03/13/trump_space_is_a_war-fighting_domain_just_like_the_land_air_and_sea.html">audience of Marines</a> in March.
Despite <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/08/trump-space-force-coast-guard-666917">questionable support</a> and even more questionable funding (the Space Force <a href="https://futurism.com/space-force-congress-bill/">didn&#8217;t make it</a> into Congress&#8217; 2019 defense spending bill), President Trump seems dead set on making the Space Force a thing.
For international relations, the creation of the world&#8217;s first Space Force might be a disaster. It sets the stage for what <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-plan-for-a-space-force-risks-escalating-a-space-arms-race-101368">some</a> are already referring to as the &#8220;space arms race.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
Space Force all the way!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1027586174448218113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The U.S. has been obsessing over how to militarize space since at least the Cold War.  For instance, &#8220;Rods from God&#8221; or Project Thor was a conceptual weapon inspired by 1950s science fiction that would fling tungsten rods from outer space at ludicrous speeds at unsuspecting enemies on Earth below. According to <a href="https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/rods-god">Popular Science</a>, this unhinged concept resurfaced in an official Air Force document from 2003, referencing &#8220;hypervelocity rod bundles&#8221; in its list of possible space-based weapons.
Luckily, space weapon systems like that never actually materialized (and still seem pretty ludicrous to us now). Space warfare in the 21st century looks pretty different — covertly launched satellites jam military GPS signals, and carry out reconnaissance missions using ultra-high resolution cameras, while troops prepare for on-the-ground attacks using satellite-based positioning systems.
There&#8217;d be no pew-pew handheld laser guns shot at individuals inside gleaming white spacecraft, no fighter jets and death stars. Instead, the Space Force is more likely to involve engineers clicking away at lots of screens.
But details on what a Space Force will actually look like, or even do, are scant. In a speech earlier this month, Vice President <a href="https://futurism.com/space-force-plan-mike-pence/">Mike Pence</a> a four action plan to establish the Space Force, including the creation of a Space Command and an Operations Force made up of high-ranking military experts. Pence, however, didn&#8217;t outline what the Space Force would do that the Air Force, or NASA, doesn&#8217;t do already, or how will we pay for it.
<q class="pullquote">There&#8217;d be no pew-pew handheld laser guns shot at individuals inside gleaming white spacecraft, no fighter jets and death stars.</q>
Despite the seemingly comical vagueness of this plan, a Space Force, should one actually be created, would address some real concerns.
Top of the list: protecting U.S. satellites. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/14/russia-china-developing-destructive-space-weapons-us-intelligence.html">Recent reports</a> suggest that Russia and China are developing <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-china-russia-space-weapons-20180413-story.html">space weapons</a> designed to monitor and even take out U.S. military satellites. That could bring other American military operations to their knees — <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/satellite-database?_ga=2.214780759.1744321684.1531496197-398261422.1531496197#.W0jIwtJKhPZ">800 U.S. satellites</a> are in orbit, many of which provide the Pentagon with intelligence and communication networks and GPS — and they weren&#8217;t exactly built to protect themselves in case of an attack. Spy satellites could collect valuable information from the enemy by scanning the ground, or interfere with signals from other satellites. In the most extreme cases, they could take down other satellites.
Without a stronger U.S. military presence in space, China and Russia will have ways to &#8220;interdict satellites both from a ground standpoint and from a space standpoint,” Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Robert Ashley said at a Summit in Washington, according to <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/06/pentagon-intelligence-chief-russia-and-china-will-have-weapons-space-near-future/149335/">Defense One</a>. “The technology is being developed right now. It is coming in the near future.”
Ashley is right — the satellite fight is already heating up. In 2014, personnel at an undisclosed Air Force base rang the alarm bells when they discovered that Russian <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/politics/space-war-lasers-satellites-russia-china/index.html">&#8220;Kamikaze&#8221;</a> satellites (formally known as Kosmos 2499) were orbiting dauntingly close to U.S. deployed satellites. The sheer proximity made them worry that the Russian satellites could take out the American ones.
Then there was the time in January 2007 when Chinese ballistic missiles intentionally blew up one of the country&#8217;s own outdated weather satellites into thousands of pieces of metal, as <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/new-arms-race-threatening-to-explode-in-space/">Wired reports</a>. Strategic Command forces in Nebraska were shocked — being able to shoot a missile at a target moving faster than the Earth&#8217;s orbit in outer space could lead to much more drastic action. Perhaps the government was testing out an anti-satellite rocket?
The U.S. military isn&#8217;t taking the threat lightly. &#8220;Not surprisingly, nations are now actively testing methods to deny us continued use of space services during conflict,&#8221; William Shelton, former commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, told a House Armed Services Subcommittee in March 2017, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/29/space-arms-race-as-russia-china-emerge-as-rapidly-growing-threats-to-us.html">CNBC reports</a>.
<figure id="attachment_135892" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-135892 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2018/08/space-war-2-1200x630.png" alt="" width="1200" height="630" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Emily Cho</figcaption></figure>
Now, proponents of Trump&#8217;s Space Force use the threat of other nations attacking satellites to legitimize its creation. &#8220;We are not initiating this. We are saying we will be able to defend our satellites in space. At the same time, if someone is going to try to engage in space with military means, we will not stand idly by,&#8221; U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis told an audience during a trip to Brazil, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-defense-secretary-pitches-closer-us-brazil-ties-57167310">as quoted by ABC News</a>.
For the average person, though, there&#8217;s not much to worry about. A satellite probably wouldn&#8217;t fall on anyone&#8217;s head — more likely, radars, positioning systems, and telecommunication networks would collapse. We&#8217;d have a hard time getting around, but except for some International Space Station astronauts afraid of getting shredded by ballistic satellite bits, we&#8217;d be pretty safe.
But before the Space Force can shoot down any satellites at all, we&#8217;ll have to embark upon the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/9/17670286/pence-trump-space-force-military-branch-2020-ndaa">long and tedious process</a> of creating it. Shifting the responsibilities of thousands of military personnel, as Pence suggested, could take a very long time, and that&#8217;s only going to happen once the funds are nailed down and approved. And there&#8217;s no telling when that might be — Space Force could end up costing U.S. taxpayers an <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/401177-pentagons-no-2-official-trumps-space-force-could-cost-billions">astronomical amount of money</a>, which could make it a pretty tough sell for Congress.
The booming private spaceflight industry could help speed this up. Decades of government investment has allowed companies like <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/05/watch-spacex-launch-super-secret-payload-feds/">SpaceX</a> and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-boeing-phantom-express-20180716-story.html">Boeing</a> to advance spaceflight technology so much that launching cargo into space has become <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/three-years-of-sls-development-could-buy-86-falcon-heavy-launches/">a whole lot cheaper</a>. So when the Space Force wants to, say, launch a satellite to combat the (very real, or, you know, not) threats to U.S. dominance in space, it&#8217;ll cost it a whole lot less to do so.
Not everyone is on board with the Space Force, of course. By allocating funds to a Space Force, the Trump administration is showing Americans what it values — security, ensuring American global dominance — and what it doesn&#8217;t — pressing <a href="https://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/do_we_really_need_a_space_forc.html">human problems</a> like restoring electricity to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico or bringing clean water to Flint, Michigan.
In truth, we have no idea what space wars of the future will look like. But establishing a Space Force is sure to bring about that future more quickly. By amplifying mistrust between nations — will the next person to touch down on the Moon try to claim territory? — the Trump administration is quashing the kind of exploration and innovation that enabled us to have a Space Force in the first place.

The Space Force that Trump so desperately wants would be fewer pew-pew laser guns in spaceships, and more jamming satellites from Earth.

Creating a Space Force could trigger an off-world arms race

Off World

A new branch of the military — yes, the Space Force — means the Trump administration is kicking off a new kind of competition: who can dominate the sky?

Creating a Space Force Could Trigger an Off-World Arms Race

We don't know how war in space will look. But establishing a Space Force ensures it'll happen.

Trash will follow humans everywhere. Here’s what the future clean up crew might look like.

Taking out our space trash is no easy task.

The first space debris cleanup crew will look something like this

Trash will follow humans everywhere. Here's what the future space debris clean up crew might look like.

The First Space Debris Cleanup Crew Will Look Something Like This

Russian scientists are developing a gigantic space laser. Sounds like the villainous plot of a James Bond film – but it&#8217;s not.
Scientists at Precision Instrument Systems (PIS) – a subdivision of the Russian space agency, <a href="http://en.roscosmos.ru/">Roscosmos</a> – reportedly plan to build a laser to destroy some of the space trash orbiting the Earth, according to the <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/429291-laser-clear-space-junk/">Russian state-backed news organization RT</a>.
The laser isn&#8217;t quite a laser just yet. Right now, it&#8217;s a the beginnings of a three-meter optical telescope designed to seek out space junk. However, the PIS scientists recently submitted a proposal to the Russian Academy of Sciences to further develop the telescope into a laser cannon, RT <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/429291-laser-clear-space-junk/">reports</a>. The solid-state laser would be able to shoot down space junk by vaporizing it with a beam, according to the group&#8217;s report.
Representatives from the PIS group are being a big cagey about the details. They confirmed that the report exists, but &#8220;declined to elaborate further&#8221; on a timeline of completion or any other technical details, reports <a href="https://www.livescience.com/62820-russia-space-lasers.html">Live Science</a>. 
If the project is approved, the telescope will become a junk-blasting machine. It&#8217;ll use a process known as &#8220;laser ablation&#8221; to pierce space junk with a beam of heat until it evaporates. Poof. And that&#8217;s important, because space junk is a pretty sizable problem.
As we launch satellites and other space missions, we leave a tremendous amount of garbage behind — NASA estimated some <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/offices/nesc/articles/space-debris">20 thousand hunks of crap</a> are orbiting Earth. A quick glance at <a href="http://stuffin.space/">a live map</a> of all our trash satellites reveals a planet surrounded by a thick sea of garbage. While navigating that sea of trash isn’t quite as treacherous as making the Kessel Run (there, we referenced Solo. Deal with it.), it does turn space exploration into a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-space-debris-problem-dual-impact-in-myanmar-shows-whats-to-come/">tricky obstacle course</a>.
Roscosmos isn&#8217;t the first group to propose clearing away the abundance of space debris. In 2015, Japanese scientists suggested <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/05/laser-cannon-space-debris/">adding a similar laser</a> to the International Space Station, and Chinese engineers <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030402617312068?showall=true&amp;via=ihub">explored a space-based laser</a> in research published earlier this year.
It bears mentioning that a laser capable of destroying discarded rockets could also damage functioning satellites, but it would be obscenely-short sighted of the Russian government to use such a weapon in a world where leaders threaten nuclear war over Twitter. It seems more likely that we’re safe from the Bond villains of the world for now.

Just in case any Bond villains needed inspiration.

Russia wants to vaporize satellites with lasers; there is no way this will go wrong

Hard Science

The Russian space agency Roscosmos just announced plans to clear away some of the space junk orbiting Earth with a giant laser.

/Satellite

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Off World

Creating a Space Force Could Trigger an Off-World Arms Race

Off World

The First Space Debris Cleanup Crew Will Look Something Like This

Hard Science

Russia Wants to Vaporize Space Junk With a Laser. There Is No Way This Will Go Wrong.

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