US SPACE FORCE
SPACE : THE FUTURE WARFIGHTING DOMAIN
Maj . Gen . Kim Crider , CTIO for the USSF , looks at the military challenges of space “ It ’ s been in the news about getting to the moon , the Artemis project , and operating beyond the moon – getting out to Mars and further and further into space . Those are our near-term objectives as a nation , which gives us something to plan for . But there ’ s a lot out there . We don ’ t know much about space weather today . There ’ s a lot we do know , but we ’ re still learning about solar winds and the impact of the sun on our various systems and operations , and the climate and radiation of space . All of these are fascinating and important areas to continue to advance our knowledge because we all depend on space . We all have to protect it . space . We ’ re partnering very closely with the department of commerce which is taking on the space traffic management capability . We in the military can focus on looking for potential threats or concerns in space that affect our military capabilities , but also partnering with industry , commerce , and others to make sure there is this free and effective use of space .
“ In the next five to 10 years we are looking at using modern additive manufacturing capabilities so that we can quickly put things into space , and putting autonomous satellites into space . We need to be able to do that in a trusted way so cybersecurity is really critical to us in the near future .”
DID YOU KNOW ...
“ There ’ s increased commercial use of space to support more and more satellites for a variety of different industries and concerns . There are global communications from space , surveillance from space , which is rapidly increasing and supporting agriculture and weather on Earth and understanding transportation . Being able to look down on Earth and see how things are changing and moving and happening is very valuable to the kinds of goods and services people need . And then , of course , there ’ s the whole idea of precision navigation and timing , which is a growing area of interest .
“ We ’ re eager to continue to evolve our capabilities for safe and secure launch and to have clear understanding , support and awareness so we can avoid collisions in
36 September 2021