Lunar COTS (LCOTS) is a term to describe a public-private funding approach for the development of a infrastructure based upon the use of lunar polar ice to facilitate transportation throughout cis-lunar space. It would be the logical follow-on approach to NASA's current commercial partnership programs. By helping to establish such a commercial infrastructure, the sustainable, permanent opening and settlement of the solar system can be achieved.
THE FOUR COMPONENTS
OF LUNAR COTS
1) Commercial Cis-lunar
Transportation Service
2) Commercial Lunar Surface
Infrastructure
3) Commercial Cis-lunar Supply
4) Commercial Lunar Crew
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We, the undersigned, urge the establishment of NASA COTS-like programs for the commercial development of cis-lunar space including:
- cis-lunar transportation
- lunar surface equipment
- harvesting of lunar polar ice
- orbital propellant and servicing depots
- a innitial crewed lunar base to support ice harvesting and processing operations.
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The current Administration’s Review of Human Space Flight Plans Committee (aka the “Augustine Commission”) has generated a lot of debate, but one message has emerged loud and clear: NASA is going to have to find a way to do more with less, which means a greater use of commercial procurement practices. As USAF Colonel Peter Garretson observed in a recent article, “The most important and transformational program at NASA is not Constellation, but rather COTS [Commercial Orbital Transportation Services] and its...
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