The announcement of Donald Trump, a “US Space Command” will change the life to the military and civilian use and exploration of the universe is nothing, says Fabian Schmidt.
In addition to the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the coast guard and the Air Force, the US armed forces, so there is now a space-army – the US Space Command. That brings back strong memories of Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program.
Some see it as a sign that the war of the stars is finally to be taken seriously: is The West gearing up soon, perhaps in All, with missile defense technology against nuclear attacks from any rogue States, or from hostile would-be world powers such as Russia or China. He protects his – in fact, more and more in the orbit of the installed communication, earth Observation and navigation infrastructure against destruction by enemy killer satellite. And he fends off hacker attacks, whose goal is to take our complex societies, vital equipment, or paralyze.
DW-science editor Fabian Schmidt
Critics fear, however, the militarization of space. The model of international cooperation that we see on the International space station (ISS), could fall under the wheels – and the peace bridge function of the civilian space research. Militarization, distrust, and espionage would follow the us in space travel.
However, neither the hopes of the One, nor the fears of the Other will be fulfilled by trump’s decision. In the core will change nothing at all.
The space is already militarized
Space research was driven always by the military. The whole of today’s rocket technology has its origins in military research. It all started with the construction of Hitler’s so-called “miracle weapon”, the V2 in Peenemünde.
From there, the rocket technology, including engineers, went almost as spoils of war directly to the Soviet Union. The United States also resorted to V2-developers. The most famous of these was Wernher von Braun.
The space race between the two world techno was not separate powers logically from the development and construction of Intercontinental ballistic missiles, whose sole purpose is to destroy cities on the other side of the earth with nuclear bombs.
Also, the first earth observation satellites have been launched for the military in their orbits – spy satellites to enemy observation. They provided pictures long before similar civil applications, the market was ripe. The first manned flight of Yuri Gagarin, shortly before the Cuban missile crisis was, of course, a Symbol of military Power.
It was similar with the satellite navigation. It was originally a military project, and was only released later, also for civilian applications, but initially with lower precision. And even today the military have for the satellite navigation, an Emergency stop switch in Hand.
The development of space travel was always the other side of the coin of the arms race. Both Hand-delivery-in-Hand, and the involved industries, structures always both research satellites and space capsules as well as cruise missiles and Intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The countless economic activities that exist today between the Orbit and the earth have all arisen since the 1980s, in the Wake of the military-inspired race to the ums.
Defense systems against Intercontinental ballistic missiles powerless.
Old wine in new bottles
So far, all of the military space activities of the United States under the auspices of the air force, with the exception of certain parts of the Sea-based missile defense, the Navy run. And the air force is already doing everything that lies in their Power, to their own military infrastructure in earth orbit. What will change now is that the new part of the area of the dispute will apply forces to these tasks of the Navy.
NASA, the civilian space travel and research activities in their responsibility, will do, of course. And you will continue to run the civilian cooperation with the other international partners – with Roscosmos, the ESA or the Japanese space Agency, JAXA, and of course, the work on the ISS.
From today to tomorrow will not be a new Star Wars program to implement. Today’s missile defense systems are only capable of Short – and medium-range missiles. Primitive Qassam rockets by about the Israeli Iron Dome. In the case of medium-range missiles missile defense still works, but here, too, there is a not so good hit ratio. Missile defense fails anyway, if the number of attacking missiles.
Against Intercontinental ballistic missiles is already grown so far, no herb. And it will remain in the foreseeable future more Fiction than Science. Because it is not easy to get as fast flying rockets without a long warning time from the sky – even with the best killer satellite. The establishment of a Space Command will change to the green table, nothing. The only thing that brings it safe: responsibility of wrangling with the air force, and thus higher costs.