Politics

Trump Is Starting A “Space Force” Branch Of The Military, And He Wants Your Input On The Logo

Space military and graphic design by public vote: what could possibly go wrong?

by Sam Langford  10 August 2018
space force

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Overnight, Trump and Pence announced their latest bizarre passion project: they’ve decided to launch a sixth branch of the United States military called the “Space Force”, which will fight in, uh, space.

Pence announced the project in a speech at the Pentagon yesterday, saying something about threats from China and Russia. And while we’d already heard Space Force-themed rumblings from Trump back in June, now there’s a date on it: Pence wants this thing up and running by 2020, in less than two years’ time.

“The next generation of Americans to confront the emerging threats in the boundless expanse of space will be wearing the uniform of the United States of America,” he said, suggesting that this branch of the military will “carry American ideals into the boundless expanse of space”. Indeed, if this speech made one thing clear, it’s that Pence’s understanding of the concept of space is truly boundless and expansive.

And if that all sounds scary, just you wait, because they’re also looking for public input on the logo. In short, these guys want to launch the military into orbit, armed with graphic design by public vote. What could possibly go wrong?

Shortly after Pence’s speech, Trump’s Make America Great Again Committee emailed campaign supporters with a list of logo options for the Space Force, saying something about releasing a “new line of gear” once it’s selected. You can see the design options below, but be warned: they’re basically all variations on the NASA logo that look like they were cooked up after browsing stock image sites for ten minutes. Behold:

And yes, one of these just says “Mars awaits” even though presumably the Space Force is not just about Mars. Suffice to say people are…not enthused.

Meanwhile, there are some pretty solid alternatives being offered by the public:

Anyway, we’ll get more details on what the Space Force actually entails in coming days. This whole project will also need Congress’s approval to get up and running, and that’s not necessarily a sure thing, what with a fair few top military leaders remaining pretty strongly opposed to the plan.