The President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy said in a report that NASA's relationship with the private sector must be "decisively transformed."

It urged that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration continue focusing on human space flights, while arguing for a private sector role in satellite launches and automated space flights.

"NASA's relationship to the private sector, its organizational structure, business culture and management processes -- all largely inherited from the Apollo era -- must be decisively transformed to implement the new, multi-decadal space exploration vision," the panel said in a 60-page report.

Its authors, led by the former president of McDonnell Douglas Corp, Edward Aldridge, concluded NASA should continue to lead in "areas where there is irrefutable demonstration that only government can perform the proposed activity."

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe said "the recommendations released today by the commission will influence our work for years to come and will help guide us through a transformation of NASA. Transformation is essential if we're going to position ourselves to meet the requirements of this initiative."

Bush hailed the commission's work, saying it made clear that his proposal "is a sustainable and affordable long-term human and robotic program to explore space."

"We will explore space to improve our lives and lift our national spirit. Space exploration is also likely to produce scientific discoveries in fields from biology to physics, and to advance aerospace and a host of other industries," he said in a statement.

Bush January 14 announced a new chapter for US space exploration that called for human missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. It called for Americans to return to the Moon's surface by 2015.

Bush's announcement came in the wake of the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster that resulted in the deaths of seven astronauts, but US lawmakers have criticised the costs of Bush's announcement.

The president is seeking an initial one billion dollars for the program, but experts say it will likely cost hundreds of billions of dollars extra.

The panel said costs could be kept down if the private sector was allowed to participate.

The private sector could "assume the primary role of providing services to NASA and most immediately in accessing low-Earth orbit."

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