I have a couple of ideas for this, but to be honest, I didn't read every post, so if any of this has been said already....
1) I think the space combat / strategy portion could be based on RISK. I submitted this idea to Trekcore a few years back and they balked, so I sent a letter to Milton Bradley and now you can see the Star Trek theme running through several of their games.
2) The "Planet fall" combat could be based loosely on Elite Force I & II with a taste of the original "Starship Troopers" the RAH version, not that horrible movie.... There might even be an open for a Doom3 sort of nightmare scenario... Additionally, I always did like the idea and concept of Secret of Vulcan Fury, which never did get finished, of course there are so many other games that come to mind as well....
3) Depending on the time available and the sort of ships required, props, sets, etc... I'd be willing to volunteer some model development.
Sorry, if I'm waaaaay off on these suggestions, just random musings.