Conversation with colleague Rick Fisher.

What is the space force?

How will it serve the U.S.?

When it comes to dealing with the fact that the Chinese appear to be going forward with a space force that is military, combat ready,

will it have weapons?

Unknown at this point.

And Rick points out that they call their tychoats, their astronauts, a brigade, their PLA as well as civilian.

They're both.

Will the space force for the USA match it?

Will we have starship troopers on the moon?

Here's Rick.

Or space force is... have Starship Troopers on the moon. Here's Rick.

Our Space Force is, I would say, studying hard and advocating hard for a range of capabilities that in the future could allow us to actually defend our assets in low Earth orbit and then onto the moon. I mean,

in a sense as well, the United States has already, kind of like the Chinese, invested in a series

of dual use capabilities, capabilities that are designed to achieve peaceful ends, but could

easily be turned to a defense of purpose.

I mean, the 2009 lunar crater observation and sensing satellite fired a missile into a moon

crater to try and turn up dust that another

satellite could then determine whether it contained water ice. But that was a deliberate

bombing of the moon for a scientific outcome.

What NASA is working on today in terms of the future moon base is full of dual use opportunities of a similar nature.

And that is that is reassuring to some degree, but it's not a full commitment to a defensive capability.

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