President Donald Trump recently called for the creation of a sixth branch of the U.S. military. To the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, he hopes to add… the Space Force.
According to astronaut Mark Kelly among other experts, Donald Trump’s Space Force is, simply put, a pretty dumb idea. Nonetheless, this week the president’s reelection campaign released a group of possible Space Force logos.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence announced the Space Force concept, proposing a new branch of the military that will be aimed at space.
“We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal,” Trump said at the time.
The Space Force would represent the first addition to the U.S. armed forces since it made the Air Force its fifth military branch back in 1947.
The idea was met with widespread derision from Kelly and others, for several reasons. The United States already has a Space Command. It’s been around since 1982. Space defence is also one of the U.S. Air Force’s core missions, which currently involves monitoring space from natural and third-country threats, protecting military satellites, and foiling Mulder and Scully’s efforts to unveil an alien conspiracy to take over Earth.
Jokes aside, there’s not a lot to do since the United States, the Soviet Union, and the U.K. signed the Outer Space Treaty, prohibiting any militarisation of space, in 1967.
Other countries with space programs, including China, are also treaty signees. There’s simply no war in space, period. So there’s really no need for a sixth branch of the U.S. military. And NASA–which works with the Air Force–already takes care of peaceful exploration.
Despite the absence of a real need or purpose for the Space Force, the Trump team is forging ahead. This week, Vice President Pence gave a speech at the Pentagon, declaring that “the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces.” The same day, the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign PAC emailed supporters with a collection of possible logos for the force, asking people to vote on the ideas. According to ABC’s Justin Fishel, on Twitter, the email came from Brad Parscale, the current director of the 2020 campaign, who has a background in branding as one half of the San Antonio, Texas–based agency Giles-Parscale.
Before we get to the logos, let’s take a moment to breathe, because these logos aren’t official in any way. They weren’t created by anyone at the Pentagon, NASA, or any other federal agency. They were created by the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign PAC. And, as Parscale notes, they’re going to be used to “commemorate” the Space Force with a new “line of gear.”
So the reality is a merchandising money spinner. Still, let’s take a look:
There's a red circular option, crisscrossed with golden wings, that some are pointing out bears a striking resemblance to the existing NASA logo. There's a navy oval option that pictures a spaceship blasting off.
For Americans (Trump donors) more taken with the idea of a strong interplanetary defence, there is an option shaped like a shield, and one in which the flight path of spaceship winds around a circle of stars to form a sort of protective web.
There is spaceship logo surrounded with red and navy stars. And last but not least, there is a rosy logo emblazoned with the epic words, "Mars awaits."
The fundamental flaw with all of the designs: they’re too trendy. “The less sort of style and expression you have within that mark, typically the longer it has a shelf life,” he says. “With most of these, I think in a few years, they will either look dated or really bad or very trendy. And then this whole [design] process needs to start over again.”
Only Trump's campaign donors can officially vote for a logo via the email sent directly from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee.
The future of the Space Force does not rest on its logo, but on Congress, which must approve the creation of a new branch of the military—and fund whatever results. But the visual identity of this proposed branch matters nonetheless. “I am left wondering about the purpose of Space Force,” Jenkins wrote. “Is it a new arm of the military? Is the U.S. going to defend outer space from other countries' space forces? Are we annexing Mars? Are we getting ready to fight off any intergalactic baddies who show up in our neighbourhood?” For now, Reed says the designs “lack a clarity and focus”—much like the Space Force itself.
What are your thoughts on these logos? Drop us what you think in the comments section.
Further reading:
Source: Donald J Trump Website