The caucus will accomplish this through briefings, base visits and symposiums. These events normally will be in Washington, D.C., while Congress is in session, but sometimes we will take this show on the road.

We are tentatively planning such a trip for December, when we will try to visit Colorado and the Air Force Space Command and Army Space Command and then travel to Omaha and visit Strategic Command. These trips will allow caucus members to observe these space units and discuss issues with military and industry leaders.

The Space Power Caucus is open to members of both the House and Senate. I am co-chairman of the Senate caucus along with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., is chairwoman of the House counterpart. We are always looking for other members of Congress to join this cause to improve the level of understanding and appreciation for space power programs.

You may ask why a senator from Colorado would be so involved in the Space Power Caucus. A better question to ask may be, who would be better to lead this effort?

As the strategic subcommittee chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I have oversight responsibilities for all space programs in our military arsenal. This gives me the unique opportunity to recognize the overarching impact space has on our daily lives and those of the military.

What is more important to ask is: Why should the state of Colorado get interested in space power? Let me throw out some facts that you may not be aware of.

• Colorado has the fourth-largest space economy behind California, Texas and Florida. That is ahead of many states with far greater gross domestic products. Space programs account for 8 percent of our state's economy.

• Space programs will contribute $3.8 billion to the Colorado economy this year. That is a lot of business for a state of any size, and it is only getting better. It is projected to be more than $7 billion by 2010.

• More than 38,000 direct space jobs are found in Colorado, with 30 percent of those directly supporting the military bases of Peterson, Schriever, Buckley, the Air Force Academy and -NORAD. If you add the number of indirect space jobs to that, the number swells to more than 75,000.

• We have about 100 companies involved in the space industry in Colorado. That includes some major players like Ball Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, but also includes many companies with less than 30 employees. New companies and well-established companies call Colorado home.

These comments by U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., were first made to a round-table discussion hosted by Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, the Colorado Office of Aerospace and Aeronautics, and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 13. Allard can be reached via e-mail through John Wood, his deputy press secretary, at john_wood@allard.senate .gov.