Walker warned that "systemic failures" over the years have dogged the aerospace industry. The nation and the aerospace sector face great economic challenges as a result of those failures, he said.
"For too often we believe that Americans have taken aerospace leadership for granted. We can no longer do that. The challenges that are in the global economy for this industry are things that we need to meet head-on," Walker explained at a press briefing.
In a White House meeting slated for Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney is set to accept the Commission's report on behalf of the Bush Administration, Walker said.
"We expect this Administration to respond very favorably to the report," Walker said.
Other members in the study include Apollo 11 moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin; Neil de Grasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium; John W. Douglass, President of the Aerospace Industries Association; and former Secretary of the Air Force, F. Whitten Peters, who co-chairs the Commission.
During a year of deliberations, the Commission grappled with how best to create a forward-looking vision and roadmap to ensure that today's sluggish U.S. aerospace industry regains its vitality and remains healthy in the future.
Flames of imagination
In its fact-finding work, the Commission makes a broad set of recommendations -- from renovating the air transportation system to reinvigorating an aging aerospace workforce -- steps needed to "begin the process of reestablishing the aerospace and aviation industry sector on firm footing"
"America needs a national aerospace vision to keep alive the flames of imagination and innovation that have been a hallmark stretching from the pale sands of Kitty Hawk to the red dust clouds of Mars," explains a media backgrounder on the final report provided to SPACE.com.
For instance, a bold vision for air transportation is outlined in the report. A new, highly automated Interstate Skyway System' would handle the large volume of coming and going civil and military aerospace vehicles that the nation will need in coming years, the report advises.
An overriding axiom the Commission used to guide its job is: "Anyone, Anything, Anywhere, Anytime." The report suggests that, perhaps, this slogan could translate a century from now into a sub-orbital day trip between Japan and the United Statesa lunar vacationor even a Martian hiking expedition.
Turning vision into reality, however, won't come easy. Needed are generous doses of national will, policy directionand dollars.
Faster point-to-point travel
A top Commission recommendation focuses on the "special significance" of space.
The Commission recommends a civil-military partnership to spearhead groundbreaking aerospace technologies, especially in the areas of propulsion and power. Putting money into more advanced propulsion systems, the report says, will lead to quicker point-to-point space travel - as well as cut back on radiation exposure that human travelers will face on interplanetary voyages.
Nuclear energy, the report suggests, could produce a high-temperature plasma that would potentially reduce transit time for a human mission to Mars from as much as eight months to about three.
During the next 100 years, the Commission foresees that advances in propulsion will be the critical enabling technology to revolutionary aerospace capabilities.
"These innovations will enhance our national security, provide major spin-offs to our economy, accelerate the exploration of the near and distant universe with both human and robotic missions, and open up new opportunities for public space travel and commercial space endeavors in the 21st century."
Audacious vision
The Commission report calls for "an audacious vision" of space exploration that recognizes the solar system as our backyard, the Milky Way galaxy as our neighborhood, and the universe as our hometown.
"We should do this not simply because its fun, or thrilling, or challenging, or enlighteningbut because it represents a critical investment in our economic strength and ultimately in our capacity to defend ourselves," the report adds.
"The United States will have to be a space-faring nation in order to be the global leader in the 21st century our freedom, mobility, and quality of life will depend on it."
Also underscored in the Commission report is need for power in orbit for military, civil, and commercial space applications.
Ground repairs
Looking at the space program from the ground up is not pretty.
The Commission calls for a joint civil and military initiative to modernize core space infrastructure - the facilities required to hurl people and payloads into space.
Today, some of that infrastructure is in disrepair. And upgrading those facilities means anteing up major dollars.
The report points to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center.
That huge building -- now used to assemble space shuttle components for flight -- is an eyesore. Its Apollo-era, 35-year old roof needs constant patching due to high winds and the beating it takes from hurricanes. Costs to fix such items like the VAB and other infrastructure is $3.9 billion at Kennedy Space Center and $3 billion at neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
"Clearly a new operations and management structure is desirable for these facilities," the report observes.
Rocketry within our grasp
As have countless studies before it, the Commission also recognizes the need for cheaper access to space.
A heavylift Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) costs $10,000 per pound to orbit. The use of new revolutionary Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV) that will significantly reduce cost "is well within our grasp in this decade," the report states.
To make this decree happen will require civilian and military space officials working together.
"The Commission believes the nation would benefit from a joint effort by NASA and DoD to reduce significantly the cost and time required to access space. Such an effort would build on the capabilities of both organizations and provide the critical mass of funding needed to create the necessary breakthroughs in propulsion."
Space Economics 101
Japan, China, Russia, India, and France, to name a few, see space as a strategic and economic frontier that should be pursued aggressively. "So should we," the Commission report comments.
For example, in the booster-for-hire business, the French company, Arianespace, captured 50 percent of the commercial world market in 2001. The United States and Russia each has 19 percent, the report warns.
"The U.S. commercial space industry continues to lose access to markets as demand decreases and international competition increases. Government regulations and incentives are necessary to bolster this important market until there is a turn-around in demand."
U.S. market share is on the decline due to foreign government intervention and protectionist policies, the report says, adding that there is need for fair and open competition.
In this arena, the success or failure of America's future efforts in space exploration is linked to our ability to work effectively with partners on projects "such as the International Space Station and planetary defense."
A Commission recommendation is for a new business model geared to the U.S. aerospace industry, making use of innovative government and industry policies. The hope is to establish a strong and healthy U.S. aerospace industry that is attractive to investors
One photo used by the Commission points to a candidate space investment prospect. "Mining the Moon for ore and isotopes might make sound commercial business opportunities in the future."
Workforce crisis
A key Commission recommendation is having the DoD task the Defense Science Board to develop a national policy that will invigorate and sustain the u.s. aerospace industrial base.
Sustaining that aerospace industrial base should include those critical technologies not likely to be maintained by the commercial sector - like space launch and solid rocket boosters.
Labeling it "a major workforce crisis in the aerospace industry," the Commission recommends immediate attention must be paid to the breakdown of Americas intellectual and industrial capacity. This decline is a threat to national security and the U.S. ability to continue as a world leader.
Reversing the situation and promoting the growth of a scientifically and technologically trained u.s. aerospace workforce is essential, the Commission advises. "Few new young employees are in the pipeline to replace the aging aerospace workforce."
NASA has three times as many technicians over the age of 60 as under the age of 30, the report notes.
Half-time spending
A closing Commission recommendation is increasing federal government spending on basic aerospace research.
By doing so, breakthrough capabilities are possible by 2010. These include: Reducing transit time between any two points on Earth by half; reduce cost and time to access space by half; and reduce transit time between two points in space by half.
Also by 2010, a goal is to demonstrate the capability to monitor and survey continuously Earth, its atmosphere, and space for a wide range of military, intelligence, civil, and commercial applications.
There is need to move forward "to new technologies and destinations", the Commission report concludes, as the "potential to do great things has never been clearer."
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