The Space Farce, or "How to fail at Space Travel without really trying"

What is a "Space Force"?

  Well, let's analyze it, shall we?  First, and foremost, Space is big.  We know this, from science fiction and whatever science shows we might have seen over the decades.  It's going to require Ships, to explore, much as the Oceans did, centuries ago.  Having reached this point, how should we design and build these ships?  Perhaps a few thousand years of experience building ocean going ships might come in handy.  It's certain that we don't have the technology to build even a small Cog or Cartel, in terms of transport and supply, but a rowboat might be possible.  Building a "space-going" Aircraft Carrier is so far beyond our current technology as to be in the realm of 'pure speculation' among scientists.  

  Now we see the crux of the problem.  We need power, supplies, life support, shields, and perhaps some form of living quarters on even the simplest vessel.  Say a billion dollars to invent a power source, whatever it may be.  Then we need engines, or some form of propulsion.  There goes a couple of billion dollars, poof, gone.  Now we have something that has power and can move, so lets spend the five or six billion needed to shield it from 'normal' radiation in space.  So we can look to supplies and life support, where we have a 'leg up' from existing experiments.  Only perhaps half a billion to make those advances, if we're careful.  Say ten Billion in research, so far, and we haven't even touched on design or construction, where the real money is.  Fortunately, we have ocean going vessels to ease our way into the problems, and high altitude aircraft to assist.  An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, it is currently not possible to land them.  So perhaps something less ambitious, like the equivalent of a galleon, or Cruiser.  Well, considering the crew size, maybe a Corvette, or something along those lines.  Whatever it is, it will only be orbital, since replenishment will be ground-to-space, and that's expensive itself.  As we perfect the various parts of the ship, assuming we succeed, we'll know more about the optimal size for it.  It will have to be constructed in Space, and that means we need a facility for such an undertaking.

  A 'space dock' where ships can be built and repaired, is the obvious choice for a station to service our "Space Force", but it has problems to be solved before it can be accomplished.  Raw materials, and manpower, since we can't expect commuters to work there. Life support and engines to maintain orbit. since orbits decay, over time.  We might need to send some robots out to the asteroid belt, to bring back some iron asteroids, for material to build with, and that would take a month of Sundays, all by itself.  If we set aside a billion dollars a year, for operating expenses and development, then in a few years, say sixty or seventy, we could have a ship, or two, to ply the 'space lanes' and defend our planet from the 'alien menace', that we've not seen, so far.  

  I realize that there would be additional expenses, great loss of life, and incredible danger, in such an undertaking, but the same was true of sailing ships, in the early days.  Ships went down, lives were lost and huge fortunes were expended, in building today's navies.  Not everything worked, and we're still learning how to make the best ships and deploy them in the most efficient manner.  Perhaps, in a few centuries, the Space Force will evolve, and we can have a 'space navy' that rivals the Ocean-going navies of today.  If it is to happen, it will require that every nation participate, as in the past, in creating the best Navy possible.  Since we only have one planet, It would Probably be best to have only one Navy to represent it.  I seriously doubt that we, as a species, can afford the expense of two, or more, such organizations.  One Navy would create an entirely new set of problems, as each country would want representation and some degree of power, in the organization, so the governing board would make the UN look like a Starbucks conversation table, in comparison.  I'm not qualified to guess how such an organization could function, but it would have to, in order to get us 'into space' as a viable society.  

   While doing it 'piecemeal' isn't the best way to go about it, it may well wind up being the only method we have, which doesn't involve a world war.