The Perpetual MEGA Space Thread

[Brett327]

Trump looks to build a U.S. Space Academy. Setting aside if it will ever get real funding, what’s the consensus on the broader idea? Is it a potentially good idea, or a bad “placing all your eggs in one basket” idea?

Trump signs executive order to create a U.S. Space Academy

"Space is the hot thing," President Trump said at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.

www.yahoo.com

The weird thing is that this will be NASA run, somehow? Which makes me think it isn't going to be a military academy for the USSF.. or Trump is just insane and doesn't understand any of this.

Probability of Congress funding this are about the same as them funding the new BBX.

 

[jointhelocalizer]

The weird thing is that this will be NASA run, somehow? Which makes me think it isn't going to be a military academy for the USSF.. or Trump is just insane and doesn't understand any of this.

Probability of Congress funding this are about the same as them funding the new BBX.

I can see it being USMMA adjacent. USMMA is a service academy that's funded via the U.S. Maritime Administration under the DOT. MIDN there earn USNR commissions as Strategic Sealift Officers by default, but can also elect to serve on Active Duty in any of the military branches or the NOAA Corps or in a Reserve or Guard component. Granted, there is no Reserve component for the USSF yet, but I can see one being created once the branch gets more established. So I can see a future where those electing civilian space service would have some type of USSF Reserve obligation (or something similar) and those electing Active Duty will have pathways to space/space adjacent occupational specialties in the other branches.

 

[Brett327]

I can see it being USMMA adjacent. USMMA is a service academy that's funded via the U.S. Maritime Administration under the DOT. MIDN there earn USNR commissions as Strategic Sealift Officers by default, but can also elect to serve on Active Duty in any of the military branches or the NOAA Corps or in a Reserve or Guard component. Granted, there is no Reserve component for the USSF yet, but I can see one being created once the branch gets more established. So I can see a future where those electing civilian space service would have some type of USSF Reserve obligation (or something similar) and those electing Active Duty will have pathways to space/space adjacent occupational specialties in the other branches.

I'm familiar with USMMA... still unclear to me why we need a separate service academy to serve as an accessions source for a service that has just 10-12K active duty personnel. Currently, USSF commissions approx. 150 officers via USAFA, 100 via OTS, and 50 via USAF ROTC. So we're going to build an entire academy just for a couple hundred cadets each year? What kind of specialized training would be available at this academy that couldn't be taught at USAFA?

These are questions appropriators should be asking of the administration before a single dollar of taxpayer money is authorized.