FAA Official Says U.S. Commercial Space Companies Have A Role To Play

The concept of an international Moon Village was the topic of panel discussion at the recent International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Jerusalem last month, and it made at least one FAA official sit up and take notice.

That official was George Nield (pictured), the FAA's associate administrator for commercial space transportation. He told Space Review that he was "impressed" with the remarks by ESA's new Director General Johann-Dietrich Woerner, who has long been an advocate of such an international undertaking.

But NASA is very tepid on the idea, with their sights set on an asteroid retrieval mission and Mars. NASA administrator Charles Bolden, who was sitting next to Woerner during the panel, said the agency would not take the lead in returning humans to the moon.  But he did say he supports the "proving ground" concept of operations in cislunar space. NASA's lack of enthusiasm has made the concept a difficult sell with the leaders of other space agencies around the world, according to the report.

Neild, however, said that the vision is appealing because "it minimizes the requirement for a very prescriptive, top-down management structure, with one country specifying the architecture and calling all the shots. Instead, it would enable countries to participate as much or as little as they chose.”

Neild told Space Review that commercial entities could play a number of roles in an international lunar base, such as providing goods and services and building habitats. He said thinking should not be limited to government space agencies. “Private industry has the potential to play an important role, and it need not be exclusively as a government contractor,” he said.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.iafastro.org