Germany : Militarizing Space Exploration

Well, the writing is on the wall. If you’re not a troglodyte and haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade, you should already know that several countries, as well as privately owned companies, are now stepping up efforts to explore and colonize space.

NATO’s declaration of “space” as a new operational domain at NATO’s 2019 meeting in London, England should have been heard far and wide, but it appears that most people think this is a joke.

When Donald Trump announced in 2018 that he was creating a new branch of the military called “Space Force” the entire world called him insane and collectively guffawed at his stupidity… well, it turns out he was on to something after all. You might have heard about the 2019 NATO meeting for example.

Space Force has been the subject of jokes on “Saturday Night Live” and a quick internet search reveals that most people consider space force to be a farce rather than a serious military branch which should be reflected on with some genuine concern and oversight.

There was even a Netflix series called “space force” which ridiculed the idea entirely. The main character played by Steve Carell is a clumsy fool who begrudgingly gets led around by an over the top eccentric scientist. The crux of the show is literally about how absurd a space force is… well congratulations Hollywood, your attempt to make a mockery of the idea of a space force has blown up in your face.

Social media and news coverage of Space Force often include references to “Star Trek,” “Star Wars,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Starship Troopers.” This isn’t surprising. People naturally use analogies to understand new concepts; it’s easier to understand new phenomena in terms of something you already know. Space Force is a pioneering branch of military service, and people are turning to what they already know about militarizing space. The problem is that science fiction is far removed from the reality of what missions in space will look like today and in the near future.

For those of you who didn’t know, there are now SEVERAL major countries that have a “space force” of some kind. The list includes the USA of course but also China, Russia, Iran, France, The UK, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and now Germany.

That list does not include the many countries who are contributing to joint space force operations like Canada (North American Aerospace Defense Command).

Germany is just the latest in an ever growing list of countries around the world that have accepted that humanity's future includes space exploration, militarization and inevitably colonization of moons and planets within our solar system.

What does all of this mean for the average person? Well it means that the next frontier, the next battleground, the next area to be colonized and militarized has now been declared… and it’s our entire solar system. Is this really something we want as our next human endeavor? How does Elon Musk and his competitors like Richard Brandt fit into this picture?

I don’t have all the answers, but I sure hope all of you will start thinking about it because it WILL definitely affect all of us. Progeny my friends, progeny… you might not live to see it but your family members who aren’t even born yet will have to live in it. I hope that our leaders are going to take this new endeavour in the right direction and lead us towards a new age of prosperity, research and wisdom. The first step is for all of us to get informed, and take this new reality seriously.

Sources :

https://www.defensenews.com/space/2021/07/13/germany-establishes-new-military-space-command/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_forces,_units,_and_formations