On Monday June 18^th, Donald Trump ordered the military to establish a sixth branch, a Space Force, the first new military branch to be created in 71 years.

The Space Development Steering Committee proposes that this new force be used to encourage the constructive development of space, the development of space as a resource for nature and for all of mankind. In the near future, we will mine water and minerals from the Moon and the asteroids. We will use those resources to build industries in orbit and beyond. Industries that will add to the human economy and that will open new possibilities to the grand project of life. And we will develop O’Neill Colonies, cities in the sky, cities with parks, forests, lakes, and wildlife. By the end of the 21^st century, these activities will double and triple the GHP, the Gross Human Product. And they will radically expand the GNP, the Gross Natural Product, the spread of ecosystems to environments of kinds life has never known.

In the words of the Space Development Steering Committee’s founder, Howard Bloom, we will “garden the solar system and green the galaxy.”

China militarized space in 2007 by using a weapon to destroy a satellite. And Russia has proposed cleaning up space debris with a powerful laser, a space death ray. America’s security and prosperity will depend upon the ability of an independent military department to perform roles and missions that keep the peace. Those roles include:

• Protecting space commerce
• Protecting, rescuing and recovering US citizens
• Enforcing laws for the safety of navigation and licit/illicit transport
• Performing public works (similar to Army Corps of Engineers)
• Securing and Maintaining Strategic Stockpiles
• Ensuring safety of Navigation
• Intercepting threats to life or property such as debris, derelict vessels or natural hazards such as asteroids or other small bodies
• Providing a stabilizing presence

The opening of space will provide a cornucopia of riches for humans and ultimately for all of this planet’s 8 million benevolent species.

As President Donald Trump, the National Space Council, NASA and the Pentagon pursue their vision of space power, the Space Development Steering Committee urges them to pursue Coast Guard-like authorities. We urge them to support the range of roles required for the US, its allies, and even its enemies to secure maximal benefit from the rapidly expanding bounty of the heavens, the bounty of space.