Space Force for Out-of-Orbit Geosynchronous Surveillance, Plans for a Lunar Colony – Does It Work?

Essay by Eric Worrall

China’s activity on the Moon may have spurred NASA’s interest in establishing a permanent foothold on our nearest neighbour.

Unit of the United States Space Force that monitors the area beyond Earth’s geosynchronous orbit

Team America: Solar System Police

Katyanna Quach Saturday April 23, 2022 // 00:12 UTC

The United States Space Force has established a unit, the 19th Space Defense Squadron, to monitor activity in the area beyond Earth’s geosynchronous orbit, all the way to the Moon. and long ago.

SDS 18 commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lintker, confirmed the task force’s launch during a board of directors discussion focused on intelligence and defence. Conference C4ISRNet held almost this week.

Lintker said the 19th SDS will be in charge of monitoring the region of space beyond our planet’s geosynchronous equatorial orbit, a region official calls space “xGEO”. The Space Force is primarily concerned with the operation and protection of its satellites for communications and navigation purposes, but the force also monitors space for any military activity from adversaries. foreign players and also tracking space junk could pose a risk to US interests.

The Space Force also works closely with NASA, providing airspace security, search and rescue capabilities to the International Space Station crew, etc. In return, NASA conducts scientific research on behalf of the military. team. As NASA hopes to partner with private corporations to colonize the Moon, the Space Force also needs to expand its reach beyond cislunar space to support future missions and capabilities.

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Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/23/space_force_geox/

Chemical rockets are not capable of establishing a permanent base, they simply do not have the lift to transport large amounts of matter to the surface of the Moon. Nuclear missiles, both nuclear heat and the stronger one that they don’t talk aboutmore likely.

Last year, NASA announced the development of a thermonuclear rocketa much more powerful reusable launcher than a chemical rocket. US ground tested a nuclear missile in the 1970swas originally intended to serve as a permanent US moon base, but the US nuclear missile was never launched, and the program was abandoned.

Russia has been developing thermonuclear missiles and nuclear-powered cruise missile for at least the last decade, based on an old Soviet program. While the main focus of today’s program is on nuclear-powered cruise missiles, the technology for nuclear-powered cruise missiles and nuclear-powered rockets, at least in terms of reactor design, can be very similar.

Why have NASA and the Space Force shown a sudden interest in lunar bases, nuclear rockets, and deep space missions?

This is speculation, but given China is starting to show serious interest in the moonIf Russia provides the launchers, China could potentially use Russian nuclear launch technology to establish a permanent base on the moon with little warning. This capability could spur the US government to develop the ability to move quickly if the need arises.