USSF’S ‘SPACEVERSE’ WILL BE LIKE METAVERSE BUT COOLER

As the world of technology expands, the U.S. military is shifting their attention to the Space Force. The U.S. is investing more time and money in this out-of-this-world branch, and they’ve started creating the Spaceverse, a “universe that combines digital tools and physical assets to advance Guardian innovation and operations in a near-peer adversarial environment.” With investments toward the Spaceverse, the Space Force is moving quickly to bring out the greatest potential in its data collection as well as its virtual simulation training toward its troops.

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Before the Spaceverse Was the Metaverse

In recent technological advancements, the Metaverse, owned by Mark Zuckerburg, is a digital space where people can interact with computer-generated environments and other users. It can include virtual realities as well as “augmented realities that combine aspects of the digital and physical worlds.” The Metaverse can also include “artificial intelligence, social media, and digital currency.” As for the Metaverse, its impact on society may be large as we move into a technological era. The effects reach to education, traveling, and shopping and benefit those who prefer the online route of those aspects of life. The Metaverse has great potential to become the reality of how we move in the future. The platform is promising for the workforce and how we can develop more “innovative and immersive ways for people to collaborate and work online.” The whole concept of the Metaverse was to bring people and organizations together in a virtual space, and this is supported by large tech firms such as Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Google, and Microsoft.

What Is the Spaceverse?

A space metaverse is basically a military Metaverse where DoD contractors and troops can interact and train in virtual reality scenarios. The Spaceverse’s key purpose is to cut down time for Space Force personnel when they’re leveraging the power of their tools and processes. Spaceverse has received a lot of funding to create its first digital model of the space environment that could be used for training, such as wargaming. The focus is virtual training and simulating war. Guardians will be put in simulated tests that mimic real-life scenarios. Virtual reality is incredibly effective for military training when the DoD is able to simulate situations that could actually happen in the future, and this type of training will be made more widely available to all troops with the development of the Spaceverse. Inspired by the Metaverse, having the Spaceverse in play will give the U.S. an edge over its competitors and make it easier for military personnel to share information with one another without any interference.

What Is the Importance of the Spaceverse?

Spaceverse is growing in importance in the digital engineering and development fields within the military, especially for satellite and missile tech. The U.S. government is investing more money in advancing their space and missile technology and training to protect against growing threats, as American adversaries are catching up in technological developments. China is currently the top competitor of the United States in the technological field, and the Pentagon recently assessed how China can “overtake the U.S. in space technology development and can cause the U.S. to lose its technological and strategic edge by the year of 2032.” Following this assessment, a meeting was held to discuss the necessity of a Spaceverse and analyze growing threats in the digital sphere. These meetings would later become discussions surrounding the “digital thread.”

How the Digital Thread Plays Into the Spaceverse

The digital thread is a crucial element in the success of the Spaceverse and everything that it provides to the Space Force branch. A digital thread is a communication framework that connects the elements in the manufacturing process and provides a detailed view of what the manufacturing process is like throughout its lifecycle. It gives engineers a general view of what’s happening within systems and, thus, provides engineers with valuable progress reports on its processes. Using this digital thread would reduce gaps within systems and allow the military to run tests in a simulated training environment. By having the digital thread in use in the Spaceverse, it can help connect the missing blocks within their operating systems, which can help increase the rigor and accuracy of simulated training. Along with the creation of Spaceverse, the Space Force is looking to invest in their own digital infrastructure to help enhance the effectiveness of Space Force training.

What Is Digital Infrastructure?

Before we dive into the specifics of what the Space Force has in mind for their digital infrastructure, we should understand what digital infrastructure is. Digital Infrastructure connects physical and virtual technologies together. It provides the foundation for an organization or company’s information technology and operations. Some of these include data centers and networks, cloud services and software, operational security, user identity, data encryption, and more. What the Space Force has in mind for their digital infrastructure is to invest in “computing power and data storage.” According to Lisa Costa, the Space Force’s Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, “There’s a growing market for on-orbit computing and storage capabilities that allow satellites to process data and make decisions faster.” The Space Force wants to invest more into their Digital Infrastructure to make these capabilities and the Spaceverse as a whole more efficient and reliable. Overall, there’s a lot to the Spaceverse, but the complicated system is also in the perfect position to enhance our Armed Forces exponentially.

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The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Photo by Senior Airman Noah Sudolcan 51st Fighter Wing