THE United States Government will unveil plans today to privatise much of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), with ambitions to reap profits from the final frontier.
The recommendation to let the private industry take on much of Nasa’s work is contained in a report by the President’s Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond, which is to be published today.
The “commercialisation of space” and the wholesale reorganisation of Nasa’s bureaucracy are central to the report, which was ordered by the White House in January.
The Times obtained excerpts from the report last night, which revealed in detail how the commission believes American entrepreneurs should look to the stars in search of profit.
“The commission believes that commercialisation of space should become the primary focus of the vision, and that the creation of a space-based industry will be one of the principal benefits of this journey,” the report states.
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The report also says that privatisation of much of Nasa would help to expand the US space programme to meet President Bush’s goal of returning to the Moon before 2020.
“Today an independent space industry does not really exist,” the report says. “Instead, we have various government-funded space programmes and their vendors. Over the next several decades — if the exploration vision is implemented to encourage this — an entirely new set of businesses can emerge that will seek profit in space.”
A spokeswoman for the commission confirmed that the extracts obtained by The Times were genuine and went even further than the report by revealing how the US Government believes businesses should not be bound by earthly concerns such as gravity and an atmosphere. “For example, we believe mining could be undertaken on the Moon,” the spokeswoman said. “This would be just the sort of thing a private mining company could get involved in because Nasa has no mining experience. You could see a private mining company working with Nasa on a project like that.”
The commission spokeswoman said the idea of businesses operating on the Moon should not be scoffed at. “2020 is not so far away and in fact we will probably have missions returning to the Moon much sooner than that,” she said.
The commission report will also offer businesses such as management consultants a step on the ladder to space.
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The commission wants Nasa to transform itself into “a leaner, more focused agency”, starting with a headquarters reorganisation that reduces its number of departments.
A draft document already circulating within Nasa shows a pared-down agency in which the Office of Space Science and the Office of Earth Science are combined.
Business consultancies such as IBM are thought to be among US companies in the running to take on such a huge and high-profile project.
Nasa already farms out a lot of work to private industry but the report offers business a chance to innovate and pursue entire commercial projects in space without government interference.
Nasa, in turn, would be left to focus on only those projects, such as the sending a human crew to Mars, that offer no opportunity for profit.
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“In Nasa decisions the preferred choice for operational activities must be competitively awarded contracts with private and non-profit organisations,” the report says.
“Nasa’s role must be limited to only those areas where there is irrefutable demonstration that only government can perform the proposed activity.”
A STAKE IN THE SKY
Companies likely to be in the running for Nasa’s big shake-up include: