What a “Space Force” based in Florida would mean to our state
Bottom Line:By now you’re familiar with the idea of the “Space Force”. As President Trump has laid out it’d be an extension of our existing military and would battle little green men from outer space as needed. Kidding...the way many media outlets treated the president’s plan would have you think it wasn’t serious,but it very much is a realistic long-term concern.
If you’ve paid any attention to what’s been going on of late with space exploration around the world you may have noticed that between Russia and China – our space programs may now have fallen behind. As cool as it is to watch the incremental progress of SpaceX for example, seeing China’s program mature isn’t. In fact, China now plans to have a power plant in space by 2025. Anyone think there could be implications attached to that eventually? Point is, whether it’s a threat from space, or most likely a threat from a known enemy via space technology – there's plenty of reason to believe there’s a long-term national security concerns involving space. With all of this in mind enter Flordia’s potential role in all of this...
Governor Ron DeSantis has begun to make his pitch for Florida’s Cape Canaveral to be ground zero for the future intergalactic military force. Earlier this week Governor DeSantis rolled out an initial outline of a plan to accommodate the Space Force.The man tasked with leading the creation of the Space Force in Florida, Frank DiBello, has backed the governor’s plan. What’s more is that NASA administrator Jim Brendinstine is someone Ron worked with closely in Congress. If it happened what would it mean for Florida?
- The initial estimate is 13,000 positions and $13 billion in new investment over the first five years
That’d clearly be great news for Florida and for the Cape which has suffered a bit since NASA’s budget cuts kicked in years ago. May the force be with us. I’ll keep you posted.