COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO A U.S. government sponsored commission sees a future that includes space tourism and a powerful melding of communications, navigation and surveillance technologies to shape American life in the decades to come.
The commission will recommend to the White House what building blocks are needed over this century to sustain a leadership role of the U.S. aerospace industry in an increasingly competitive world.
Details on the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry were highlighted here at 18th National Space Symposium, sponsored by the Space Foundation.
The vision thing
The commission is expected to release its findings later this year. A primary goal from the blue-ribbon panel of experts is to identity plans and policies needed now -- over the next 20 to 30 years to help maintain and develop new kinds of leadership in Americas aerospace prowess.
Robert Walker, Chairman of the commission, said the group is deep in study, delving into ways to merge space-based, air, and ground assets all of which are capable of being profitable in the commercial sector. Similarly, in the military sector, the advisory group is looking into how these assets must interact with each other in ways that allow U.S. forces to accomplish missions, he said.
"Each of the pieces of our reportwell outline what we think is a vision that will be attractive to people. Each of those visions will be tied to a series of enabling technologies that we think will be necessary to get thereor what technologies need developing in order to achieve the vision," Walker said.
"The vision thing is a key," said John Douglass, a commission member and President of Aerospace Industries Association. He noted that industrial planning is not what government and industry do best, underscoring the important task of the commission in wrestling with a myriad of political and bureaucratic issues to form a vision of the future.
Concerning the present state of the U.S. aerospace sector, Douglass said global pressures are growing.
"Theres no question that were being challenged," Douglass said. Other nations are hot on the trail and want preeminent position in commercial space and aviation, he said.
Digital atmosphere
"We are looking toward the future," said Charles Huettner, Executive Director of the commission. He said that precise navigation and surveillance the ability to know what goes on around you is critical in supporting civilian and military needs.
In this regard, Huettner said that establishing a "digital atmosphere" around the planet could attain "situational awareness". Hazardous weather and terrain data can be part of a synthetic vision useful for both military and civilian needs.
"It enables almost any kind of transportation, military system you want," Huettner said. Communications, navigation, and surveillance are required, not only to handle point-to-point commercial air travel, but also to assure homeland security, he said.
"An overall architecture that would serve a multiple of purposeswere exploring these ideas as part of our commission," Huettner said.
Unlike the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites essentially a military system turned also into a civil system over time "why not put all the requirements in the pot and design it right the first time?" Huettner said.
Cultivate the market
Walker said the right mix of vision and policy is needed to open up opportunity. The commission is exploring the question of public space tourism and how to begin opening up those markets.
Walker told SPACE.com that the commission is addressing space tourism in an incremental way.
As example, Walker said the advisory group is identifying ways to help stimulate space tourism markets, such as use of aircraft that mimic microgravity conditions of space travel.
Parabolic trajectories flown by aircraft give passengers a glimpse into the future of space tourism. At the same time, such a commercial business can helps drum up future clients and cash to help establish a profitable space tourism industry, Walker said.
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