Space Force - not the Netflix one
Sign up and protect the planet.
"The Sky is not the Limit" reads the catchy header on the USSF careers page. Another slice of science fiction became a reality at the end of last year when the US launched the United States Space Force and while the Team America : World-Police and Star Trek logo jokes are levelled at the newly minted department, the need for some kind of space force continues to grow.
But rather than being the first defence from alien invaders, sadly it is much closer to home that these law enforcers will mainly be utilised;
Extra-terrestrial cleaners
Since the start of the space age there have been thousands of rockets launched, but it has been the period from 2008 to present day that has seen the biggest spike in the amount of objects in orbit, most of which are not performing a function and are essentially junk.
The first mission to remove an item of space debris from orbit is planned for 2025 by the European Space Agency, with the intention of establishing a viable market for future missions of its kind. With the near-miss of two defunct satellites just last month the demand for something more regular is surely overdue.
The real conundrum is how these missions are financed and of course how the rubbish is dealt with. Perhaps an international collective could seek funding from those countries responsible for the objects, with fines or dumping of them back on earth if invoices went unpaid.. Or maybe there is the option of jettisoning the offending items into "deep space" where some other unsuspecting galaxy can deal with the waste. As long as they don't crop up in the future and are misinterpreted as otherworldly!
Traffic police
As the clean up crew suggests, there is already an issue with near-misses in space - usually from detritus or small asteroids that pass us by from time to time - but as our orbit becomes cluttered with more functioning satellites the risk of the spacecraft collisions is increased.
Just like police directing traffic at intersections the world over, coordination and cooperation is required to make sure that orbiting bodies continue to proceed unabated. This will be an evermore complex and vital task as more parties enter the space age and private launches become common-place.
Space Pirates
Another responsibility of our "galactic bobby" will be monitoring the behaviour of those spacecraft orbiting the planet. This is perhaps the most obvious application of the Space Force, with talk of hostile nations "weaponising space" and instances already of Russian satellites closely following American satellites, potentially with nefarious intentions. If the behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated on planet earth, why should it be in space?
It's going to get more cluttered up there and there should be some universal rules governing nation and individual behaviour, even if it is out of this world.
