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A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 19 december 2018
Trump signs order to create U.S. Space Command

By LOLITA C. BALDOR meet the president's vision and destructive" anti-sat-
Associated Press for a space force. ellite weapons for use dur-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first steps next year will ing a future war. And there
President Donald Trump be to nominate top leaders are growing worries about
launched the Pentagon's for Space Command, in- cyberattacks that could
new Space Command cluding a four-star general target satellite technology,
Tuesday, an effort to better and a deputy. The com- potentially leaving troops in
organize and advance the mand would likely at least combat without electronic
military's vast operations in begin to take form in Col- communications or navi-
space that could cost as orado, where the current gation abilities.
much as $800 million over Joint Functional Compo- A U.S. Space Command
the next five years. nent Command for Space existed from 1985 to 2002,
Trump signed a one-page is already located. But but was disbanded in the
memorandum Tuesday there has been no final de- aftermath of the 9/11 ter-
authorizing the Defense cision on a location for the rorist attacks so that U.S.
Department to create the new command. Northern Command could
new command. Speak- Funding for the command be established, focusing on
ing at the Kennedy Space will be included in the bud- defense of the homeland.
Center in Florida, Vice Pres- get for fiscal year 2020, Although Space Com-
ident Mike Pence said, "a which will be unveiled in mand went away, its func-
new era of American na- February. tions remained and were
tional security in space be- Trump's order accelerates absorbed by U.S. Strategic
gins today." what has been a decades- Command. The Air Force
The goal is to set up a com- long effort to reorganize retained its lead role in
mand to oversee and or- and improve the military's space through Air Force
ganize space operations, In this Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, In this photo provided by the U.S. technological advances in Space Command. That
accelerate technical ad- Air Force, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Spaceflight space, which at times has existing space command
SSO-A: SmallSat Express, launches from Space Launch Com-
vances and find more ef- plex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. gotten less attention as the will be a key component of
fective ways to defend U.S. Associated Press Air Force has focused on the new joint entity, raising
assets in space, including warplanes and other com- space to the same status as
the vast constellations of partment begins to pull to- tion of anonymity to discuss bat priorities. other headquarters such as
satellites that American gether various space units internal deliberations not The military's role in space U.S. Cyber Command, Spe-
forces rely on for naviga- from across the military ser- yet announced. has been under scrutiny cial Operations Command
tion, communications and vices into a more coordi- Army Lt. Col. Joe Bucci- because the United States or Strategic Command.
surveillance. The move nated, independent orga- no, spokesman for Deputy is increasingly reliant on or- The new Space Command
comes amid growing con- nization. Defense Secretary Patrick biting satellites that are dif- will also pull from existing
cerns that China and Rus- According to one U.S. offi- Shanahan, said that estab- ficult to protect. Satellites units in the other services,
sia are working on ways to cial, the command would lishing Space Command is provide communications, such as the Army Space
disrupt, disable or even de- pull about 600 staff from ex- "a critical step in accelerat- navigation, intelligence and Missile Command and
stroy U.S. satellites. isting military space offices, ing our space capabilities and other services vital to the Navy's Space and Na-
The new order is separate and then add at least an- and posture to defend our the military and the nation- val Warfare Systems Com-
from the president's much other 1,000 over the com- vital national interests and al economy. mand.
touted goal of creating a ing years. The roughly $800 deter our adversaries. This Over the past year, the is- Officials said the process
"Space Force" as an inde- million would mainly cover combatant command will sue gained urgency amid of breaking away parts of
pendent armed service the additional staff. The lead space operations and growing competition and other organizations and
branch, but is considered costs for the existing staff develop space warfighting threats from adversary na- molding them all into a
a first step in that direc- would just transfer to the doctrine, tactics, and tech- tions. new command will be
tion. The memo provides new command, but that niques." U.S. intelligence agencies done carefully, to ensure
little detail on what will be total was not immediately He added that the Penta- reported earlier this year it's done correctly without
a long and complicated available. gon will continue to devel- that Russia and China were jeopardizing any ongoing
process as the Defense De- The official spoke on condi- op a legislative proposal to pursuing "nondestructive operations or activities.q

Huge barrier isn't trapping plastic waste in Pacific Ocean

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A any plastic waste — but the launched the Pacific Tuesday and will work for ed to act like a coastline,
floating device sent to cor- young innovator behind Ocean cleanup project, the next few weeks to wid- trapping some of the 1.8
ral a swirling island of trash the project said Monday said the speed of the solar- en its span so that it catch- trillion pieces of plastic that
between California and that a fix was in the works. powered barrier isn't allow- es more wind and waves to scientists estimate are swirl-
Hawaii has not swept up Boyan Slat, 24, who ing it to hold on to the plas- help it go faster, he said. ing in the patch while al-
tic it catches. A ship towed the 2,000-foot- lowing marine life to safely
"Sometimes the system ac- long (600-meter-long) bar- swim beneath it.
tually moves slightly slower rier in September from San Fitted with solar-powered
than the plastic, which of Francisco to the Great Pa- lights, cameras, sensors and
course you don't want be- cific Garbage Patch — an satellite antennas, the de-
cause then you have a island of trash twice the vice intends to communi-
chance of losing the plastic size of Texas. It has been in cate its position at all times,
again," Slat said in an inter- place since the end of Oc- allowing a support vessel to
view with The Associated tober, Slat said. fish out the collected plas-
Press. The plastic barrier with a ta- tic every few months and
A crew of engineers will pered 10-foot-deep (3-me- transport it to dry land for
reach the U-shaped boom ter-deep) screen is intend- recycling.q