Earlier this week, President Trump called for the formation of a dedicated Space Force. Even though the Air Force already has a space command under its wing, Trump believes that a separate organization is needed to (re-)establish American dominance in the galaxy. Trump’s plan was widely frowned upon (e.g. by Secretary of Defense Mattis and the U.S. military itself), but space is increasingly important to life (and warfare) on earth and creating a Space Force may not be such a bad idea.
From the prestigious space race of the cold war era, today we are in a situation where presence in space is an absolute prerequisite for exercising power on earth. Because of this, a new space race, to build up military capacity in space, has commenced. This includes satellites for intelligence, communication and (missile) navigation that a country needs for its own civil and military activities, but also an offensive system to, for instance, take out enemy satellites or missiles. To this end, China, Russia and India have built similar Space Forces.
For now, military presence in space predominantly serves earthly purposes, such as communication and navigation. This will surely change in the future, when space exploration becomes more important and more valuable in itself. For instance, asteroids might be mined for valuable resources that can be used on earth (e.g. precious metals) or, more likely, directly in outer space (e.g. water to produce hydrogen rocket fuel). Such valuable assets would need some form of protection, especially since territorial claims will be heavily contested.
