Applying the UK's PPP Lessons to NASA's Commercial Development Policy

摘要

Under an early stage of US/UK collaboration in space exploration, the UK's experience in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) is helping guide the creation of an agency-level Commercial Development Policy (CDP) for NASA. In PPPs, private capital is secured to finance the construction of an asset which is then used for the private operation of a public service delivery. An existing CDP, that was adopted by the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, seeks to develop industrial capability and markets to achieve exploration at lower cost with fixed price contracts. Two notable European PPPs in the space sector (Skynet 5 and Galileo) provide valuable lessons for the emerging NASA CDP in several areas: enabling private debt financing, focusing on dual-use technologies, understanding value instead of cost, risk transfer, using long term planning, and impacting the national economy.