Peter Garretson - Space Marines With Jetpacks

Peter Garretson discusses the 1966 Ithacus concept for a rapid-strike battalion of 1200 "rocket commandos" and how this inspired USMC SUSTAIN in 2002 and today's AFRL Rocket Cargo programs. Ithacus was a study back in 1966 inspired by general Wallace M. Greene, who proposed a rapid-strike battalion of 1200 "rocket commandos" deployed by an intercontinental rocket so the need for overseas bases could be reduced. Small Unit Space Transport and INsertion or SUSTAIN is a concept first proposed in 2002 by the United States Air Force and United States Marine Corps to deploy Marines via spaceflight to any location on Earth. FAST SPACE was a study for leveraging low-cost rocket tech like SpaceX vehicles for space access. Rocket Cargo is a current AFRL Vanguard Project for rapid point to point transport and logistics. Peter Garretson is an independent strategy consultant focusing on space and defense. Peter’s accomplishments include a 33 year career with the Department of Defense, and service in a number of prestigious roles such as the Chief of Future Technology for USAF Strategic Planning in the Pentagon, the Director of the Space Horizons Task Force, and the Division Chief of Irregular Strategy, Plans and Policy, and as a strategic policy advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Peter has also served as an assistant professor of comparative military studies at the USAF Air Command and Staff College, as member of the National Space Society Board of Directors, and in his current role as Senior Fellow in Defense Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. Peter is also the co-author of “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space”, and he joins us today for an impromptu discussion of near & far future space technologies. PETER GARRETSON'S LINKS: http://spacestrategist.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/space-strategy/id1559865448 https://www.amazon.com/Scramble-Skies-Competition-Control-Resources/dp/1498583113 MEDIUM ARTICLE: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/this-cold-war-concept-envisioned-space-marines-with-jetpacks-5a3ee398d42e ITHACUS: http://www.astronautix.com/i/ithacus.html USMC SUSTAIN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSTAIN_(military) FAST SPACE: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/Research/Space-Horizons/documents/Fast%20Space_Public_2017.pdf AFRL ROCKET CARGO: https://afresearchlab.com/technology/successstories/rocket-cargo-for-agile-global-logistics/ ROCKET CARGO VISUALIZATION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyL4REgyacs https://www.dvidshub.net/video/817682/rocket-cargo-visualization ULTRA LOW-COST ACCESS TO SPACE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-un6mJ2Un8