Well, that's true according to a recent study conducted by The Tauri Group, a premiere space consulting firm. You might want to check out the link here:
http://taurigroup.com/graphics/snapshots/DERPCCCEPBR.pdf
Found this study through the Commercial Spaceflight Federation by the way. They're an industry association of various companies and organizations actively involved in commercializing space. As far as I'm concerned, more focus and government support for commercial space companies is the right track to go. I thought of writing an article on why it was a good thing that Constellation was canceled but frankly some people just write much better than me on this topic.
The latest Aerospace America issue (April 2010) had a very insightful and concise article written by Marco Caceres from the Teal Group with viewpoints that I wholeheartedly agree with. You might want to take a look at pages 20-21, 24-25 of the latest issue if you haven't done so already. The article is entitled "A Boost for Commercial Human Spaceflight" and it's a short read. To sum it up and to take directly from what Marco wrote,
"The cancellation of the VSE [Vision for Space Exploration] is a pragmatic decision by the Obama administration. There is just not enough money in the US budget to pay for a space transportation and exploration initiative in which the tangible benefits to the nation are not clear...NASA will help fund efforts by companies like SpaceX and OSC to develop human-rated space vehicles that will eventually be able to transport astronauts. These vehicles can, in turn, be adapted and offered to spur the development of new commercial markets such as space tourism. This will stimulate private capital investment in these types of space transportation programs, and before you know it you will have a growing and vibrant commercial human spaceflight industry."
I find it interesting that two separate aerospace consulting firms have reached the same conclusion, namely that space commercialization is good. I'm wondering if there's any aerospace consulting firm out there who actually thinks shifting emphasis from the Constellation to private space companies is a bad thing. Let me know if you find any.
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