On paper, the USSF is dedicated to defending U.S. interests in space. More specifically, the USSF is charged with protecting space assets—satellites, mostly—ensuring freedom of operation, monitoring space debris, and developing technologies for space warfare.

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) in 2019, while generally accepted as a positive development for American national security, left some citizens confused. Many did not understand—and still do not understand—the difference between the USSF and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has been exploring the reaches of space since the 1950s.

The fundamental difference between the two entities is that NASA is a civilian agency with an explicit focus on space exploration, scientific research, and technology development. The USSF, meanwhile, is a military branch whose explicit focus is on protecting U.S. interests in space. Let’s take a closer look at those distinctions between America’s two space-focused government entities. 

NASA Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before

To emphasize: although NASA is operated by the U.S. government, it is a civilian agency, not a branch of the military.

The reason some people conflate NASA’s mission of space exploration with the USSF’s more protective mission is because NASA was formed at the height of the Cold War, in response to Soviet excursions beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, though NASA is a civilian agency, its programs are invariably military-adjacent. During the first years of the Space Race, NASA exclusively used military pilots for its test missions: Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin were all active-duty members of the military at the time of their accomplishments in space.

But ostensibly, the NASA mission pertained to peaceful pursuits—namely, the discovery of scientific knowledge. So NASA programs have always centered on developing new spacecraft, new space procedures, conducting research on other planets, photographing the galaxy, and so on. NASA’s best-known programs—Apollo, the Space Shuttle, the Mars rover, the James Webb telescope—are family-friendly programs that are taught to grade-school children, and often held forth, justly, as humanity’s crowning scientific achievements.

The Space Force Keeps an Eye on the Sky

The USSF is decidedly not a civilian agency. Rather, it is a branch of the military, alongside the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. On paper, the USSF is dedicated to defending U.S. interests in space. More specifically, the USSF is charged with protecting space assets—satellites, mostly—ensuring freedom of operation, monitoring space debris, and developing technologies for space warfare. But what does all that mean exactly? Is the USSF conducting kinetic-attack operations in Earth’s orbit, Star Wars-style?

Not exactly.

“There are a few different ways the Space Force carries out its mission,” Space Insider reported. “One is simply watching and waiting, using both ground- and space-based systems to track objects in orbit.” The objects in question are varied, including space debris, satellites, missiles, and potentially even enemy spacecraft.

“Another one of the branch’s responsibilities is providing military communications through several fleets of purpose-built satellites and up keeping the GPS navigation system,” the site reported. And, “several divisions of [USSF] are dedicated to defensive and offensive space operations.” 

The exact nature of these operations is, of course, highly classified. The classified space operations do not include orbital fighting, however, as explosions would create orbiting fields of shrapnel-like debris, which would harm U.S. satellites in orbit. “Rather, the aim is to ‘blind and deafen’ enemy satellites with electronic weapons.” And the USSF is engaged in cyber warfare operations.

But the USSF is only five years old, and the service’s mission is likely in its most rudimentary stage. Consider its steady budget expansion—which has already surpassed NASA’s own—as a harbinger of a mission scope and complexity that will continue to expand in the years to come. 

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

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