Major firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin already provide NASA with rockets, but this new effort is aimed at both fostering greater cooperation within the industry and moving the agency away from managing cargo launches directly and possibly crew-carrying ones as well.

In a request for information due back by mid-October, NASA has asked companies about any plans for space-launch vehicles, new types of spaceships and the logistical capabilities they could provide. Defined in the request as commercial space transportation services, the RFI, according to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, is part of the agency's overall response to President George W. Bush's new space exploration plan.

The plan, announced by Bush in a speech at NASA on Jan. 14, called for returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 and beginning technology development for longer and more ambitious missions -- possibly to Mars. The president also convened a commission to determine how NASA could best achieve the goals of the plan.

The Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy, headed by former defense official Edward Pete Aldridge, released its report June 4. In the 60-page document, commissioners urged NASA to make greater use of commercial space systems, including possible increased reliance on private launch systems and services.

The Commission recommends NASA recognize and implement a far larger presence of private industry in space operations, with the specific goal of allowing private industry to assume the primary role of providing services to NASA, and most immediately in accessing low-Earth orbit, Aldridge said in releasing the report.

Since 1988, NASA has relied on private rockets to carry its satellites and probes into space, with each rocket chosen in individual competitions. Because the launch vehicles are procured one at a time, they must be virtually custom made for the size of the satellite and the specific requirements of the mission. NASA has required rocket-makers to win pre-approval for their craft in order to be considered in the individual competitions. The rocketeers also must demonstrate flight success in previous launches to get in line for possible NASA missions.

The agency's new information request seeks industry guidance and help with a wide range of types of rocketships. NASA is asking industry to describe, in detail, what types of launch capabilities are being planned and what the individual firms think they could send into space on an annual basis. NASA also asked for price information, and if the firms thought the government should share development costs of new vehicles.

NASA paid special attention to small business in the information request and also sought information on six types of space-launch services:

-- Ground to low-Earth orbit. These include vehicles that could launch satellites to orbits accessible from both Cape Canaveral and from southern California, and missions to geosynchronous orbits where most communications satellites fly.

-- Ground to interplanetary trajectory. Such flights consist of space probes powered by nuclear propulsion or what is described as large-scale, cryogenic propulsion, meaning new types of rocket engines that use super-cool fuels such as liquid hydrogen. In these cases, NASA asked potential builders to detail the size and scope of their planned craft.

-- Ground to low-Earth-orbit rendezvous. These include cargo flights from Cape Canaveral to dock with the International Space Station and offload supplies. Currently, no existing U.S. firm is capable of executing such flights, although several have expressed interest or have produced designs that could accomplish the task after the space shuttle fleet is retired.

-- Ground to high-Earth-orbit. Such craft must be capable of delivering supplies and fuel in orbit around the moon or on its surface. Here, NASA is most interested in the amount of fuel and supplies companies think they could carry.

-- Perhaps most controversial, NASA has asked if any firm is planning to gain the ability to send astronauts into Earth orbit privately. In such cases, NASA would be interested in how far along firms are in certifying their rockets to carry crews, and when such private, astronaut-launching capabilities might become available.

As might be expected, the requests have stirred controversy within the aerospace industry and among others opposed to transferring operations from government craft to private companies. Some experts think the move is not only essential, but overdue, however.

It is clear from past experience with many industry transformations that space launch needs to move more to the private sector to achieve true competition and innovation, said Tidal W. McCoy, a former acting Secretary of the Air Force during the Reagan administration and now chairman of the Space Transportation Association.

NASA and (the Department of Defense) must not be afraid to let the private sector take on more responsibility for space launch, nor should they be afraid to pick winners and losers, and punish non-performance or malfeasance, McCoy said. He acknowledged, however, that imposing such large-scale, sweeping changes upon an agency known for resisting even the smallest alterations in its missions will not occur quickly or easily.

Vision, policies, budgets and management are the role of government, McCoy said, while options, execution, operations, safety and risk measurement is the job of industry. There are, however, many areas where both sectors could work together to advance U.S. space launch technology. Innovation and ambition are the role of both, he said.

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