Donald Trump orders Pentagon to set up 'Space Force' within US military

President has repeatedly floated the idea of a space force as he pushes to redouble America's extraterrestrial efforts

Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to set up a "space force" as a branch of the US military, as he seeks to re-establish America as a space travel heavyweight.

“It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space - we must have American dominance in space”, President Trump said. “I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as a sixth branch of the armed forces”.

A Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement that officials “understand the President's guidance” and will begin to examine a rollout.

“Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy”, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said in an emailed statement. “Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders.”

Separately, the White House announced that Mr Trump had signed a new policy to manage space debris and govern increased traffic driven by the burgeoning commercial space-flight industry

It was not the first time Mr Trump has mused about a dedicated military operation that would focus on threats beyond earth’s atmosphere.

During a speech to Marines in California earlier this year, Mr Trump noted that “space is a warfighting domain, just like the land, air and sea” and said we may “develop another” bra ch of the military.

“I was saying it the other day, because we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in space - maybe we need a new force, we’ll call it the space force”, Mr Trump said at the time.

The sustained interest in a “space force” mirrors Mr Trump’s efforts to reinvigorate America’s moribund space exploration programme. Last year he signed a directive seeking to return US astronauts to the moon and, eventually, Mars - another goal Mr Trump has publicly trumpeted.

“Very soon we’re going to Mars” Mr Trump said in his speech to the Marines.

It is not just a matter of scientific inquiry. During a speech laying out the administration’s space policy, vice president Mike Pence noted that the US is in direct competition with rivals like Russia and China, which he said were developing satellite-disrupting technology.

“Other nations have seized the opportunity to stake their claim in the infinite frontier”, Mr Pence said, and “America must be as dominant in space as we are here on earth”.