During his first presidential term in 2019, Donald Trump launched the United States Space Force (USSF), a new branch of the armed forces designed to achieve “combat readiness” in outer space. For a while, the scheme was dismissed as a farcical act of cosplay. There was even a poorly reviewed Netflix comedy about it in the style of The Office. But six years later, it seems increasingly clear that the USSF is not going away.

In fact, Trump’s second term has seen renewed enthusiasm for the Space Force and its so-called “Guardians” who are tasked with... what, exactly? It’s not completely clear. But anyway, the USSF solidified their “path to space superiority” last week, in the form of an official framework for fighting wars in space. 

“It is the formative purpose of the Space Force to achieve space superiority – to ensure freedom of movement in space for our forces while denying the same to our adversaries,” said general Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, in a statement. “We must be prepared to employ capabilities for offensive and defensive purposes to deter and, if necessary, defeat aggressors that threaten our vital national interests.” 

Does this sound like something a supervillain might say before “preemptively” nuking a foreign nation from space? A bit, yeah! But what does it actually mean in practice? We’ve tried to answer that question, and more, below.

WHAT IS A SPACE FORCE, EXACTLY?

Technically speaking, there are only two dedicated space forces in the world, and it will surprise nobody to learn that these belong to the US and China. In early 2024, US officials declared China one of their biggest cosmic threats, alongside Russia, setting the stage for a new space race between the global superpowers. Other nations have interests beyond Earth’s orbit, of course, but their efforts are typically tied in with existing air forces. By contrast, the US and China have created dedicated military branches – space forces – to push and protect their agendas beyond Earth, from the Moon, to Mars, and beyond. If nothing else, this demonstrates their belief in the singular importance of space-based warfare in years to come.

WHAT DOES THE SPACE FORCE ACTUALLY DO?

As spelled out in the newly published “space warfighting” framework, the Space Force’s offensive and defensive operations will mostly fall into one of three categories: orbital warfare, electromagnetic warfare, and cyberspace warfare. The first, orbital warfare, is exactly the kind we’ve come to expect from sci-fi films: physical spacecraft chasing each other in high orbit, with our home planet as a distant backdrop, or the deployment of more far-fetched weapons like literal space lasers.

Electromagnetic warfare, meanwhile, is more about disrupting signals on the electromagnetic spectrum, which could be used to target vital communication systems or put an enemy’s space-based infrastructure out of action. Finally, there’s cyberspace warfare. Clearly, this is already a known threat back on Earth, but the overwhelming reliance on digital systems in space could make it even more potent.

DO WE REALLY NEED TO BE FIGHTING WARS IN SPACE?

Hopefully, the answer is: no, when we reach the final frontier, the extreme environment will force us to cooperate and we’ll all finally learn to get along x 

In all likelihood, though, the massive untapped potential of outer space (from vast mineral deposits to colonisation opportunities) will only stoke competition and conflict between Earth’s big players. We’re also increasingly reliant on orbital tech like satellites – which number more than 11,000 in 2025 – for many essential parts of planetbound life, meaning whoever achieves superiority in space gains a massive advantage on the ground as well. Quite scary!

ROBOTS ARE SET TO DOMINATE THE SPACE BATTLEFIELD

Robots truly are coming for all of our jobs: journalists, teachers, lorry drivers... now elite spacefighter pilots as well! “While space warfare – like all warfare – is a human activity, the character of warfare in the space domain features highly automated systems that filter or reduce human decision making,” says the space warfighting framework. This is mostly because of the extremely high speeds, vast distances, and cluttered orbits that space forces can expect to encounter.

To navigate this new theatre of war, Space Force has employed new technologies like Boeing’s X-37B – a totally unmanned spaceplane which completed its latest test back in March. But the new framework also emphasises the need for “detailed analysis [to] help us characterise how and when humans interact with these systems”. In other words: let’s not unleash weaponised AI into our home planet’s orbit without giving it some thought first, because that might just be the quickest route to our own extinction.