America must become “a space-faring nation.”
“The Commission concludes that the nation 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.” The report issued today by the Walker Commission, formally the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, starkly draws the aerospace challenges facing our country. Our future depends on success in space. (*) (†)
The report is not easily available from the Commission’s web site. They could have just posted links to the PDFs, but instead they chose to do something else. If you dig, you can finally find the PDFs, including the executive summary. (‡ PDF)
The Commission notes that the aerospace industry is in poor shape, and that while the workforce is graying, schools aren’t producing enough graduates with the requisite science and math skills to replace retirees. Yet, aerospace is integral to economic performance, transportation, national defense, and homeland security, just to list a few important areas. The report calls for a national aerospace policy. The problem has been that a wide variety of agencies from the Department of Defense to NASA to the FAA to several others take action that affect the aerospace industry without the guidance provided by one overarching policy. In particular, the new aerospace policy must work in concert with the nascent homeland security policy.
One interesting problem area is air traffic control. For the past few decades, the pace of information systems upgrades by the FAA has been slow. While the current plan will not be finished for several years, the future challenges soon upon us will include handling both manned and unmanned aircraft and, no doubt, vehicles comparable to space planes. Then, there are the additional homeland security needs in the wake of 9/11. A massive automation of air traffic control is required.
For future space exploration and travel, the Commission suggests that new, breakthrough advances must be achieved in the field of propulsion. Travel time within the solar system must be cut from years to weeks. It won’t happen without more research spending by the federal government.
The economic recommendations are far-reaching. Regulations need to be streamlined, international trade in space products must be opened, and more focus must be given to teaching the next generations math and science.
The Commission suggests that very high level goals are within reach. By 2010, we should be able to demonstrate technology that cuts travel time by air and through space by half, aviation noise by 90%, and the fatal aviation accident rate also by 90%. In addition, time to market for new aerospace technologies can be slashed significantly.
It’s now in the hands of Congress, and, by extension, its constituents. If the Republican-controlled Congress is able to undertake both aerospace policy and homeland security in a competent manner, that would be a huge accomplishment. Will it happen? Let’s pressure our legislators to make sure it does.