Civilian and Commercial Space Goals

I've been kicking around in my head for the past couple of days now about wanting to go to the moon and how to enable that endeavor in the future. I've come to the thought that the way we've been doing things for the past decade or so isn't worth it and that we should change around a bit the way we go about building hardware and setting goals for ourselves in space.

I don't have full solutions, just a bunch of ideas, of which I wanted to share here. These are really just extensions of existing concepts.

Current Problems 

There's been a lot of back and forth about the usefulness of SLS as well as problems with NASA keeping direction in between differing Presidential administrations. SLS is considered some what of a "jobs" program by some as it isn't being built in the most efficient manner, and has been incredibly slow to build.

As well, SLS only came about as a concept after the Obama administration cancelled the Constellation program.

Keeping NASA on focus and keeping funding to meet NASA's goals are a clear problem.

Idea

Trying to solve the above two problems are hard things to do. Wanting our nation to reach the Moon and Mars requires decades of focus and funding, both of which need to survive both legislative and executive changes.

I've been kicking around the idea of trying to build some sort of semi-autonomous agency similar to the Federal Reserve that is partially government directed but able to execute policy independently of government oversight.

That agency would be charged with developing civilian and commercial infrastructure and policy in space for America with a nod to doing so by developing cost effective commercial partnerships. It would establish the "what" and define goals without so much defining the "how" - which may be better done through competitive fixed-cost commercial contracts.

In short, the idea is that this agency would be a logical extension of NASA's COTS and CRS programs, but expanded out to include any other space infrastructure objectives, such as - 

• developing infrastructure for managing space debris and the oncoming large satellite constellations (on orbit fuel depots)
• developing the needed platforms for space mining
• developing habitats in cis-lunar space for human stay
• establishing a lunar base
• policy on selling celestial property (asteroid mining or lunar mining areas)

I'm not sure what we would call this theoretical agency. "National Space Development Office" or "Federal Space Office", "Federal Space Development Agency" or such.

How Is This Different From NASA?

This agency's role basically is an expansion of NASA's "Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office" but of course with a much wider goal set. Whether this should be an office that sits under NASA or separate from NASA I am not sure about.

In my mind, the goal of NASA is to develop technologies - to be a research powerhouse. Developing commercial interests in space is not a mission of NASA; hence why the need for a separate entity. I admit that there are some tangential objectives between the two, but I haven't evolved this idea far enough to know if it requires wholly separate agencies.

How Does This Work?

Or really - who is funding all of this? We arrive back at the original problem that any government funded agency lies victim to the winds of politics. It only makes sense - if taxpayers are funding any endeavor, then taxpayers should have a say in how their money is spent.

It's kinda hard to execute policy if no one is paying for it.

This is why I am trying to bake an idea of some sort of semi-autonomous agency similar to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve members are appointed by the President but they do not answer to the President. Member terms outlast Presidential and Congressional terms. And funding is not appropriated by Congress.

So how do we fund all this? Do we develop some sort of large "national space bank" where funding is drawn from for National Space objectives and then get the US Government to bank there? I am not sure. 

The problem of financing is the hard part to solve.