Space Force was created in 2019 to secure U.S. dominance in space. Today, it’s at the forefront of addressing emerging threats like crowded orbits, cyberattacks on satellites, and global competition. What does this mean for America’s national security in space?
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00:00Space has evolved. Space is no longer a benign environment. It is extremely contested.
00:06Over the past decade, countries like Russia, China and India have tested anti-satellite weapons,
00:12sparking international concerns about the vulnerability of critical space systems
00:17essential to our daily lives. With ambitions to colonize Mars and discover new life forms,
00:22space remains a domain of exploration, but it has also become a contested frontier.
00:28The U.S. Space Force was established in 2019, becoming the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces
00:37under the Air Force. Its mission is to secure our nation's interests in, from, and to space.
00:43To accomplish the mission of space superiority, we have proposed a theory of success called
00:48competitive endurance. This theory includes three key tenets, avoiding operational surprise,
00:54threats, denying first-mover advantage, and conducting responsible counter-space activities.
01:00As the players and threats in space evolve, how is the U.S. trying to stay ahead?
01:08Tell us a little bit about how you think space itself is going to evolve as a battleground and
01:13as, of course, an opportunity in the next few years.
01:16Yes, so space has evolved. Space is no longer a benign environment. It is extremely contested.
01:22Our adversaries, they understand our reliance on space and they are taking deliberate
01:26actions to develop capabilities such as anti-satellite weapons to degrade American advantage. That's serious.
01:32Space Force manages more than 75 satellites. In 2024, they had more than 10 types of satellites in operation.
01:39Do you use internet connectivity at all? Do you leverage the internet?
01:42Yes, I do.
01:43The answer is yes. We've talked about this. Do you leverage weather data at all?
01:48When you're on those long flights, do you connect to the internet, the Wi-Fi over the internet?
01:52That's space. GPS and navigation systems are also space. Critical capabilities that we use
01:58every day in our life rely on space-based capabilities.
02:02An anti-satellite weapon can disable these satellites through radiation or electromagnetic pulses,
02:08threatening both U.S. military and commercial systems. That's why Space Force is turning to AI as
02:14one of the tools to help tackle this issue.
02:16So we are embracing all artificial intelligence. So we are leveraging any capability that allows us to
02:22make decisions faster to be able to take care of our guardians and airmen, our allies, as well as our
02:28partners. Let me talk a little bit about moon shots, because the original space race, of course,
02:32was to get to the moon. What is the moon shot today from where you sit?
02:37Space domain awareness. We need the ability to be able to see the different activities that are
02:43taking place in space. So one of our top priorities for artificial intelligence integration is leveraging
02:48it for space domain awareness so we can see the various activities taking place in the domain.
02:54With regard to AI, talk a little bit about even trust and how much you empower to AI and how much you
03:01empower to humans.
03:03We will always have humans in the loop, especially when it comes to high state environment. We'll
03:08leverage artificial intelligence where appropriate. I think one key area that we are looking at is how
03:14do we leverage artificial intelligence to help streamline business functions. So from human resources to
03:21travel requests, etc. Space Force received just $30 billion out of an $842 billion defense budget in
03:302024. But responding to these threats isn't just about funding. It's about leveraging the right
03:36capabilities. That's why collaboration is critical. So we've seen a lot of commercial actors go into
03:43space. I'm thinking both, you know, there's Jeff Bezos, of course, Elon Musk, you know, many,
03:48many others. What impact has that had just on the landscape, but also, you know, the ability of
03:54Space Force to do its job? Yes. So we depend a great deal on our commercial partners. We know that
03:59we cannot do it alone. We have to work with industry partners. We have to work with the commercial
04:04sector. We also have to work with academia. And there are a lot of opportunities and we will partner with
04:09the most data AI capable organizations to help us deliver on our mission, which is to protect and defend
04:14the space dummy. This commercial collaboration in space can have real-time impacts on the ground as
04:20well. United States, our allies and our commercial companies are using space-based capabilities to help
04:28provide intelligence and surveillance support to the Ukrainian military. During the Russia-Ukraine war,
04:34jammers from both sides disrupted each other's operations. Starlink has been the cornerstone of the
04:39command and control software used by the armed forces of Ukraine to exchange data and coordinate
04:45military actions. As more players enter the space race, the orbits above Earth are getting increasingly
04:51congested. So, Chandra, how much junk is there up there? Millions. There is a lot. There are various
04:57websites where you can go look at publicly available information to see how many objects are in space,
05:02but millions of objects are in space from a debris perspective. In a domain shaped by rising threats and
05:08rapid innovation, the Space Force is focused on maintaining awareness, building resilience and
05:14partnering across sectors to ensure the U.S. can compete and endure in the new space era.