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Missions for the USSF: Planetary Defense

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  • By SPOC, 3 SES/MAF

What roles or responsibilities should the USSF have in asteroid detection and defense?

  • Brown, Lt. Col. Rhett W., "Legal Property Rights in Space: Implications for the US Space Force and the Outer Space Treaty," AWC SSP, 2020.
    • Examines the technological challenges and military implications of planetary defense against asteroids. The paper notes that kinetic deflection capabilities may be the only viable option to divert an asteroid from colliding with Earth and preventing a cataclysmic event. However, a major challenge in planetary defense is the limited capability to deliver enough kinetic mass to impact a large asteroid due to current propulsion technology limitations. While utilizing nuclear pulse propulsion (such as Project Orion) is theorized as a solution for planetary defense, it faces major limitations due to radioactive fallout risks and the restrictions of the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. Ultimately, the paper suggests that the Space Force must navigate these complex choices, establishing domain-specific rules of engagement alongside evolving international norms.
  • Hebert, Karl D. et al, "Concepts for the Development of USSF Strategy," AWC SSP 2021.
    • Addresses asteroid defense from a commercial and resource-protection perspective rather than planetary protection. The paper argues that as the commercial space industry expands to extract and utilize valuable resources from near-Earth asteroids, these commercial ventures will face significant security risks from nefarious actors. Consequently, the paper asserts that the USSF is the logical entity to defend and protect commercial asteroid mining efforts in space, which will require establishing multilateral agreements on acceptable norms of conduct and implementing enforcement mechanisms to safeguard commercial freedom of action.
  • Pambianchi, Lt. Col. Johann et al, "Advancing America's Space Characterization Ecosystem: An Organizational, Technological and Data-Driven Approach to Addressing Tomorrow's Space Conflicts," AU Research, 2022.
    • States that while some argue planetary defense belongs within the military's purview, the primary responsibility for asteroid detection and planetary defense should currently remain with NASA. However, the paper strongly recommends that the USSF partner with NASA to develop and procure cislunar space sensors to support both military Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and civil Planetary Defense. Under this collaborative framework, NASA's mission to detect, track, and characterize 90% of near-Earth asteroids and comets would be augmented by the inherent military and commercial SSA capabilities of the USSF to assist with deep-space characterization. Additionally, the authors recommend that the USSF support contingency planning and joint wargaming exercises alongside other federal agencies to prepare for the eventual necessity of a whole-of-government global solution to defeat a potential Near-Earth Object threat.
  • Purgason, Jean A., "Space Junk and the US Military: A Policy Analysis on Physical Technology Options for Mitigating Orbital Debris," SAASS thesis, 2020.
    • Discusses strategic alternatives for mitigating orbital debris and notes that the U.S. military must prepare for extreme threat scenarios, specifically including planetary defense against life-killing asteroids. In the context of space defense planning, the paper outlines that the DoD must be prepared for "deep space employment" to destroy asteroid threats before they can enter the Earth's threat zone. This implies a direct, active military role for the USSF in executing interception and destruction missions of incoming celestial threats, serving as a critical, active-defeat backup to passive civil tracking efforts.
  • Thorp, Isaac, "Countering Chinese Space aggression with a Cooperative Security Strategy," AFGC thesis, 2020.
    • Proposes Joint Planetary Defense as a highly effective baseline for cooperative security policies between the United States and China, since asteroid threats present a mutual existential danger. The paper highlights that the United States is working to develop space vehicles capable of intercepting and altering the trajectories of asteroids. Additionally, it explores the possibility of loitering unmanned interception vehicles at Earth-Moon Lagrange points to act as stationary defense nodes. Because enabling these vehicles to redirect an asteroid's course is a highly costly and time-consuming endeavor, the paper argues that the U.S. should seek to partner with China to share development costs and coordinate eventual planetary defense operations rather than engaging in a competitive race. Furthermore, the author notes that the exact same technologies developed to intercept asteroids for planetary defense could eventually be adapted to support commercial asteroid mining.