PUBLIC LAW 106-391—OCT. 30, 2000 114 STAT. 1593 SEC. 309. DEFINITIONS OF COMMERCIAL SPACE POLICY TERMS. It is the sense of the Congress that the Administrator should ensure, to the extent practicable, that the usage of terminology in National Aeronautics and Space Administration policies and programs with respect to space activities is consistent with the following definitions: (1) The term "commercialization" means actions or policies which promote or facilitate the private creation or expansion of commercial markets for privately developed and privately provided space goods and services, including privatized space activities. (2) The term "commercial purchase" means a purchase by the Federal Government of space goods and services at a market price from a private entity which has invested private resources to meet commercial requirements. (3) The term "commercial use of Federal assets" means the use of Federal assets by a private entity to deliver services to commercial customers, with or without putting private capital at risk. (4) The term "contract consolidation" means the combining of two or more Government service contracts for related space activities into one larger Government service contract. (5) The term "privatization" means the process of transferring— (A) control and ownership of Federal space-related assets, along with the responsibility for operating, maintaining, and upgrading those assets, to the private sector; or (B) control and responsibility for space-related functions from the Federal Government to the private sector. SEC. 310. EXTERNAL TANK OPPORTUNITIES STUDY. (a) APPLICATIONS. — The Administrator shall enter into appropriate arrangements for an independent study to identify, and evaluate the potential benefits and costs of, the broadest possible range of commercial and scientific applications which are enabled by the launch of Space Shuttle external tanks into Earth orbit and retention in space, including— (1) the use of privately owned external tanks as a venue for commercial advertising on the ground, during ascent, and in Earth orbit, except that such study shall not consider advertising that while in orbit is observable from the ground with the unaided human eye; (2) the use of external tanks to achieve scientific or technology demonstration missions in Earth orbit, on the Moon, or elsewhere in space; and (3) the use of external tanks as low-cost infrastructure in Earth orbit or on the Moon, including as an augmentation to the International Space Station. A final report on the results of such study shall be delivered Reports, to the Congress not later than 90 days after the date of the enact- Deadline, ment of this Act. Such report shall include recommendations as to Government and industry-funded improvements to the external tank which would maximize its cost-effectiveness for the scientific and commercial applications identified.
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