Common wisdom says that space science must rely solely on the Federal government for funding. A new white paper from the International Institute of Space Commerce challenges that assumption.

The Institute has released “Innovative Models for Private Financing of Space Science Missions,” which is available as a free download.

The paper says the business-as-usual approach to space-science missions is not working and outlines several private-financing alternatives. Most of these alternatives still involve government as the ultimate customer, but the paper also considers the crowdfunding model and privately financed prizes such as the Google Lunar X Prize.

The paper was written by Jeffrey Nosanov, the program-planning and assessment lead in he Nuclear Space Power Office at JPL and a NIAC fellow; Norah Patten, chair of the Space Management and Business Department at International Space University; Michael Potter, a senior fellow at the International Institute of Space Commerce and director of Paradigm Ventures; and Christopher Stott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ManSat LLC.

The Institute is a not-for-profit foundation located at the International Business School on the Isle of Man.