CHANGES FOR US GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT OF SPACE (UH-OH MR ALIEN!)

Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee is one of the people behind a push to change the government’s current management of space to something more militarized and more readily responsive if the worst should happen or the best should be invented.

The whole reason for this is that there is some perceived concern from within – within Earths boundaries. In the next war (sad that it is considered a ‘fait accompli’) space will become the next avenue for attack. GOAL: To take out one’s eyes & ears (satellites) and perhaps limit their control over what is left.

The claim is that outer space is already weaponized even though there is a treaty that says otherwise. The Outer Space Treaty(also known as  ‘the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies’ ) forms the basis of international space law. It was signed by the US, China, the UK, and Russia – or more accurately the Soviet Union, back in 1967. Currently 104 countries are part of the treaty as it has expanded as those considered space faring nations increase.

In all honesty the treaty does not expressly prohibit the placement of weaponry just not nuclear weaponry. The treaty unfortunately is full of loopholes. (*Case & point, it also does not allow any one country to own property in space and yet says nothing about a company making such a claim.)

Basically the worry is that although just about every division of the military has their own space department, it slows a response. Speaking of slow responses anther concern is the length of time required between concept & working product. In terms of the government and space vehicles (and I think we can expand this to now include weaponry based on the rhetoric of Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee) it takes many years to come to fruition if the government undertakes the action whether a new spaceship or other device but the private sector has a much faster turnaround.

I am concerned about all of this. While much of these concerns are close to valid if we make all these changes I worry that we will no longer have a NASA of the people but instead a militarized space arm that becomes much like the movie ‘Starship Troopers’ and our expansion into space becomes not one of seeking knowledge but one of conquering new lands/planets. I think that this points to the new days of Rome but we need to remember that Rome fell and proceed with caution!

Oh, and Mr. Alien? Uhm, hide!