Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

On patrol! Cislunar domain awareness spacecraft.
Image credit: AFRL

Military moves on Earth’s Moon and cis-lunar space are being saluted at high levels – and by multiple nations.

“To win the new race to the Moon, the U.S. military will need to establish an infrastructure that fosters scientific and economic activities, as well as the means to secure those activities from potential threats such as territorial claims and irresponsible or hostile behavior.”

That’s the call of a just-issued paper — Securing Cislunar Space and the First Island Off the Coast of Earth – a report by the Mitchell Institute’s Charles S. Galbreath, Senior Fellow for Space Studies, the Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence.

Image credit: DARPA/Inside Outer Space Archive

Cislunar regime

The report stresses that it’s time for the U.S. Space Force “to initiate its foray into the cislunar regime is now.”

If not a space trajectory taken now, the United States will cede the initiative to the Russian and Chinese coalition. Furthermore, if the U.S. is late in the game, catching up will require much larger and costlier actions later—“or potentially leading to a point when even a massive investment cannot fully breach

the lead established by adversaries”…limiting or prohibiting others’ ability “to freely operate within the regime, or undo the precedents they’ve set.”

Artist’s view of two Artemis astronauts at work on the lunar surface.
Image credit: NASA

Lunar resources

There are seventeen metallic elements that, due to their scarcity or the difficulty in collecting them, are classified as rare-earth minerals (REM), the report points out.

These materials are necessary components, the report adds, to over 200 high-tech products, from smartphones to components of the F-35 and nuclear submarines.

In 2022, China accounted for 63 percent of the world’s rare-earth mining, 85 percent of rare-earth processing, and 92 percent of rare-earth magnetic production, the report observes.

“The Moon could be a new source for these REMs because in some cases REMs are more plentiful on the Moon than on Earth,” states the report.

The strategic value of having an off-Earth destination in our own back yard represents an opportunity to expand humanity into the Solar System while benefitting society on Earth (indicated by the arrow to and from the Moon) through creating a new sector of our economy in cislunar space. Image credit: Clive Neal, et al.

Recommendations

Galbreath outlines a number of recommendations in the new report:

The U.S. Department of Defense must develop a broad strategy of how it can support scientific and economic expansion into the cislunar regime. This will identify and prioritize military objectives and describe how they will secure U.S. interests and support civil, commercial, and partner activities.

Also, the U.S. Congress must fund additive growth of about $250 million per year to the U.S. Space Force budget and increase its end strength by 200 personnel in the next four years for the new responsibilities associated with emerging national interests on the Moon.

Other recommendations are:

• The U.S. Space Force must develop a cadre of cislunar experts ready to lead development and operations activities. This cadre will be equipped with the education and training to solve the complex challenges of operations in the cislunar regime.U.S. Space Command and the Space Force must establish doctrine, a Concept of Operations (CONOPS), and requirements to foster the race to the Moon. This will align military efforts and provide a framework for future development and operations.
• The U.S. Space Force must invest in cislunar research and development efforts. Working with organizations like the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Space Force will be able to accelerate R&D activities and streamline their transition to operations.
• The Space Force must rapidly transition R&D activities into operational capabilities. A sustained presence on the Moon will require established programs of record and operational capabilities to support continued civil, commercial, and military activities.

Watch this cis-lunar space! To what extent will a future lunar framework support military prowess?
Image credit: NASA/ESA, Matthias Maurer

Race to the moon

In closing, the report explains that “the success of a cooperative, transparent, and responsible approach to cislunar operations will result in a more stable and productive opportunity than the coercive and territorial approach consistent with Chinese and Russian activities here on Earth.”

But to achieve this, the report concludes that “the U.S. military must be empowered via Congressional authorization and appropriations to support the ongoing race to the Moon.”

To access the Mitchell Institute document – “Securing Cislunar Space and the First Island Off the Coast of Earth” – go to:

https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Cislunar_Space_Policy_Paper_45-FINAL2.pdf