DOD Space Community of Interest
More information can be found at: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/ACSC/Display/Article/1688390/schriever-scholars-program/
Today, the Air Force (from whose resources most of a new space force branch would come from) is the service with principal responsibility for military space operations. In fact, it serves as the world’s preeminent “air, space and cyberspace” force (bolding added). And most Americans seem rather satisfied with how the Air Force is conducting itself. Polls show that Americans view the Air Force as the “most important branch” of the armed forces, and it’s the service that most Americans would recommend “if a child or grandchild was considering entering the military.”
First of all, the mere fact that space is a distinct geographic and operating domain is not itself conclusive. We don’t have a separate “submarine force,” for example, even though the undersea parts of the oceans are vast.
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The commercial space industry can mass produce satellites that are small but quite sophisticated for the price. And launch vehicles are getting better and cheaper by the day. So it only makes sense for the U.S. military to ride that wave, said Steven Walker, the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
DARPA was created 60 years ago as an antidote to the stubbornly inflexible system the military uses to develop and acquire technology. The agency now sees an opportunity to flex its disruptive muscles in space programs.
“Space is going to be one of my priorities,” Walker said Thursday at a defense writers breakfast meeting.
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The video, released by scientists at UW–Madison’s Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), was captured by the GOES-16, one of the world’s most advanced weather satellites.
The satellite photographed the Earth once every five minutes during the eclipse, and the resulting timelapse video shows the shadow of the moon crossing the United States from west to east.
This study, conducted by a team of leaders in industry, research and development, finance, policy and strategy, explores whether and how the USAF can form private sector partnerships to create a virtuous cycle of launch cost reductions of between 3 and 10 times lower than today’s costs. Doing so could enable completely new approaches for the Air Force to defend American values, protect American interests, and enhance opportunities to exploit the unique global advantages of the ultimate high ground.
You can find the study on our Air University Research page at http://www.airuniversity.af.mil/AirUniversityResearch/.