A report by Bigelow Aerospace that was commissioned by NASA urges the U.S. space agency to take a commercial approach to lunar transportation similar to the one used to develop transport services to the International Space Station, according to published reports.

Company founder Robert Bigelow, who has ambitious plans for private space stations and lunar bases, said on Tuesday that he will be applying to the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Tranportation (AST) for a policy review of lunar property rights by the end of this year, Jeff Foust reports from Washington, DC.

Bigelow and and NASA’s Associate Administrator Human Explorations and Operations William Gerstenmaier discussed the findings of the report during a press availability in the nation’s capital. The report was produced under a Space Act Agreement between NASA and the company.

The event was not streamed for reporters outside of Washington. Foust attended and also obtained an advanced copy of the document. His report on the document is here. Excerpts of his Tweets from the event are below.

According to Foust, the document urges that NASA adopt an approach similar to the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which paid SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop cargo freighters to supply the International Space Station.

The COTS phase was followed by Commercial Resupply Service contracts, in which NASA is paying SpaceX and Orbital to deliver cargo to the station. The companies were paid for achieving milestones, and they have maintained ownership of the launch vehicles and cargo ships.

It’s not entirely clear how a lunar COTS model would fit into NASA’s deep space exploration plans, which are focused on sending astronauts to an asteroid in the 2020’s.

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust