1. What statement best describes your interest in space? Please mark (or highlite with red font) all that apply to you

a. Supplier of space launch services or hardware/software
b. Supplier of ground processing or support services or hardware
c. Supplier of space based assets or services
d. Buyer/user of space services (e.g., biotech, material science, earth science)
e. Financier (Angel, VC, investment banking, etc.)
f. Media: News and Information
g. Other – Consultant to commercial space companies

2. Do you know about the NASA COTS program? (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services)

a. No or not much (if no skip to #7)
b. Have heard about it
c. Some knowledge
d. Very familiar

3. Did you or your organization apply for a NASA COTS award?

a. Yes – I consulted on one COTS team’s proposal
b. No

4. Do you think NASA should offer other COTS type programs?

a. Yes – if the system can be improved
b. No
c. Don’t know

5. Do you have any ideas for future NASA COTS type programs? If yes please briefly describe.
Almost any area of NASA activity could benefit from true commercial participation. Examples include: Delivery of material to the lunar surface. Lunar orbiters and communication systems. Servicing of JWST. Etc. The industry knows NASA has a need for these things. If NASA convinced the industry there would be fair procurements in the future, then people would start to invest in commercial solutions. But the industry does not trust NASA (as described below).

6. Do you think the NASA COTS program could be improved? If so how?
The COTS program had many flaws. There was no need to demand the full business plans of the companies bidding. There was no need to try to create new competitors in space tourism. There were too many examples of NASA trying to steer the industry, under the pretense that NASA was an ‘investor’. Finally, NASA changed the rules after the proposals were submitted, so that the procurement was ‘not about supplying logistics to ISS’. Now, with all the scheduled milestones – each one an opportunity for NASA to cancel funding - I am willing to bet the program will be canceled.

7. What do you see as the biggest barrier/obstacle to commercial space?
NASA

This was also the consensus of survey of businesses at a US Chamber of Commerce space conference a few years ago (Nov 2001?). The survey listed many issues (technology, investment, regulations, etc.), but 66% of the people said “NASA” was the number one obstacle. I agree completely, having been working in this area since the early 1980’s. Long ago I thought that NASA had good intentions for commercial space, and their poor results were the result of “unintended consequences”. Now, I believe that parts of NASA purposely set out to damage commercial space developments. I once listed 15 examples where NASA went out of it’s way to put a commercial company out of business.

8. What do you think is the most important thing that NASA could do to support and promote commercial space?
- “First, do no harm.” If NASA had simply stayed out of the way in the past, we would be much farther along today.
- NASA should buy services whenever they are available. NASA should run simplified, honest procurements. NASA must get out of the mindset that their first priority is to protect the jobs at the centers, and therefore find the slowest, and most expensive way to proceed.

- Next, any NASA manager involved in dealing with commercial space projects should have a basic understanding of how business works. They should understand, for example, that you do not schedule “peer reviews” of commercial projects (as was called for in one ISS document), any more than Microsoft gets to vote on Apple’s next project. And NASA managers should be able to recognize the following actions are not helpful: ‘company X has a good idea – so let’s give the public the same thing, for free!’ and ‘company X has a good idea – let’s pay Boeing to do the same thing!’ I have lost count of how many times I have seen NASA do those things, and then claim their actions were supporting commercial space.

9. Any other comments or suggestions regarding commercial space?
Every couple years (for the last 20 years) I have seen some well-meaning NASA staff try to find ways for NASA to support commercial space. They always take NASA policy statements at their word, and assume the system just requires minor fixes. But from the commercial side, we are well aware of the ‘piles of bodies’ that represent earlier companies who tried to do commercial space, but were cut down by NASA. Somehow the idealistic new staff at NASA never want to learn about these past problems. This is why the Russians have the reputation of being capitalists (and open for business) while NASA is seen as the last Soviet bureaucracy. I suggest if you really want to try to change things, you learn about the long sad history of NASA and commercial space.

10. Name and contact information for follow-up (optional):
Name: Eric Dahlstrom
Organization: International Space Consultants