Space contains a wealth of mineral resources so abundant that it would make money as we now think of it obsolete.  We rely on space borne assets for  very ordinary every day things and will come to rely on them even more. The common sense of this, unlike other (separating families) things (G7 Russia) President Trump does (Covfefe) should be self evident.   However, it has to be noted, that there used to exist a US Space Command and an Air Force space command.  The logical starting point will be to elevate AirForce Space Command into a coequal service branch… probably heavily influenced by the Air Force and Navy where most of the service members that comprise it would come from.  (Which leads to a question… what on Earth would spaceforce boot camp look like.*)   

To paraphrase a TV theme... it'll be a long road getting from here to there.   This is NOT what the space force will be like at all.   

(Let me be CLEAR.  I am a libertarian who voted as such in 2016.  Not a Trump supporter, what he is doing in other areas is  shameful BUT he is right about this issue:)

First, we all rely on space born assets.  We all watch TV, and use the internet.  Even if you lived in a cabin in the woods of Montana,guess what, your packages are likely carried on GPS assisted routes.  An adversary could send up a satellite to disable our GPS network, disable our communications, and even send conventional weapons.  Right now we’d have no way to stop it.    For the time being that is how this starts out.

Second, the expansion of private space-flight leads to the question of law and order.  This space force may someday be more like a coast guard than a navy or “Starfleet”.  An officer of the space force could be placed in  a command or executive role on any mission with a crew over a certain size. Someone has to be empowered with legitimate authority to resolve disputes during a deep space mission.   So far order has been kept by making sure that crews that go into space know each other well LONG before they are cooped up in a tin can for months at a time.  On a mission that is 1 2 or 4 years long even good friends will have issues.

Third, while no one can claim to own land in outer space in the sense that one can have title to land on Earth.   The resources can be mined, utilized and even stolen.  In the distant future if space travel were to truly be routine some form of space piracy could be an issue.   This does not have to mean humans going into space.  Robotic space craft could be sent out to do the mining, transporting, and hijacking of transports.   When one asteroid can contain much more gold, platinum and tin than Earths entire crust, the temptation is real. 

Last but not least, how does the eventual resource utilization which necessitates a space force lead to money being obsolete?  As the last paragraph said, more gold than the entire Earths crust.  Most money is fiat money used to pay taxes.  How do we value fiat money when solid gold, and platinum are as common as tinfoil?  Which are people going to want to be paid in.  Inflated, Dollars, Euros… bitcoins HA, give me three bars of gold pressed (p)latinum any day!   Once precious metals no longer have real value  and can be traded the way we might trade quarters this leads to the price of commodities going down in general. Commodities such as wheat, pork bellies, and frozen concentrated orange juice.   Everything else people need to live on would be so cheap it would practically be free.  

True utilization of our solar systems space borne resources is one of the big steps towards a post scarcity world.  Only a complete fool would be opposed to that.   Certainly no one who is truly progressive or liberal. 

OK … I am Trekkie enough to have to quote Jean Luc Picardright here.   This is what a post scarcity society means... and space is key to getting us there. 


I mean… if your force is going to be largely operating remote controlled vehicles remotely for the time being.  Only conceivably personnel who could actually fly into space would need and serious PT.  :/   Would it be more Full Metal Jacket or more Star Ship Troopers???  

Seriously... for the time being it would just be Air Force OTS or BMT with slightly different uniforms. Probably a lot of black instead of blue.