The key thing to clearly understand is the Air Force has claimed over and over again how critical space is, only to choose air dominance over space dominance at every turn. We cannot continue to do the same things over and over again and expect different results.

The US Space Corps will not be about Cislunar protection or space-faring warriors, at least not yet. It will be about taking Space Situational Awareness much more seriously and ensuring the technology is suitably developed to actually be able to track accurately what is on orbit and how to develop serious capability to conduct collision risk avoidance computations. This is the #1 fundamental issue for Mission Assurance for commercial, civil, international, and national security space. Period.

We do this now, but we are severely handicapped by a moribund and antiquated acquisition methodology. The US Space Corps will need to move away from FAR-based huge programs and into OTA-based “prototype to production” contracts which can help the US maintain parity with its adversaries.

The first such OTA is being evaluated for award right now - The Space Enterprise Consortium. SpEC will be an entirely new paradigm. You will see very little activity by the traditional large primes and a lot more work by companies like Sierra Nevada Corporation, Applied Technology Associates, LeoLabs, ExoAnalytic, SpaceNav, Virgin Orbit, Blue Origin, VALT Enterprises, Accion Systems, Tyvak-Terran Orbital, Blue Canyon Technologies, and universities like Montana State, the University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, as well as labs like Draper.

The US Space Corps will be small, maybe 50,000 people at most, and much more nimble. The senior leadership is towing the company line in public, but they have understood the issues being raised by Congress for some time. When was the last time the Chief of Staff of the Air Force was a space operator - never, and there never will be one. The Commandant of the Space Corps, why would the USSC have a Chief of Staff after all, will be a space professional and an experienced leader. She will be awesome.

It is a time for change. It won’t be easy. It will be painful. And don’t forget, the US Space Corps could very likely take members from the Army, Navy, and the Marine Corps, not just the Air Force, as its core founding cadre. These will be the pioneers and they will be excited to make space safe and useful for everyone.

Excellent article. The challenge will be to keep senior leaders' eyes on the ball. They are easily distracted.

You should've attended the event. I hate to point it out, but you're wrong on almost every point. These vehicles are either reusable or use innovative manufacturing techniques that keeps the price down. One company not mentioned, but was featured at the panel, is VALT. 2 of its 3 stages are reusable and they are made of carbon fiber and no LOX. So, it's lighter, faster, and cheaper. Also, these systems can place a payload into a specific orbit. Rideshare doesn't offer this.

From the satellite side, there is a ton of VC money pouring into this area and the innovations are real and potentially revolutionary. The government is building new lines of small sats as well. Tech has shrunk down sensors to a point that a 3-U cube sat to do what a large satellite used to do.

The launch demand is nearly insatiable. The need for weather data will be critical for farmers, fishermen, and ag sectors, along with retailers, Wall Street analysts and many, many more people.

Various programs like STP and ELANA will help universities get rides on these types of rides.

Apparently the Mac Mini can also use 8GB of RAM http://blog.macsales.com/2585-still-in-testing-bu...

I think this is smart. Instant IT for small biz at a small price.

Jamie, you're spot on with the perception argument. However, Steve has it on Fox News' general availability and scope of their reporting. I'm not in the media, mercifully ;-), but when the war was hot and heavy it seemed like Fox News did a better job of presenting the story. Ms Amanpour is terrific on camera, love her voice and delivery, but her bias was blatant. I've been to Iraq a few times. I no longer trust any of the media's coverage of events there (not even FNC) because it's impossible to cover the story. It's too vast, too complicated. Nothing on the PRTs in Afghanistan (the veritable pointy-tip of the spear for COIN) since a story by Geraldo Rivera 2 years ago. I say nothing, there probably have been stories, but their story isn't getting out there for the people to see.

This is all "inside baseball" for most us to read about. I'd just like to see stories done in context of strategy and how operations are stacking up to achieve goals. And yes, we have them. Gen McChrystal is pretty damn specific about COIN.

Regardless, I really appreciate you for showing both sides. You are an honorable gentleman. I follow you because of Jim Long and your willingness to work with him in the past (he is a hidden gem in the media).