moon

Jan. 27, 2014 at 5:37 PM ET

NASA

NASA's Project Morpheus prototype lander blasts off during a free-flight test at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida on Jan. 16. The space agency is looking for commercial partners to develop the technologies for future lunar landers.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA plans to provide free technical expertise, equipment, facilities and software to help selected companies develop lunar landers as part of a new program called Lunar Catalyst.

"The intent of this initiative is to stimulate and help commercialization," Jason Crusan, who oversees NASA's advanced exploration programs, said during a conference call with prospective bidders on Monday.

Development of commercial lunar landers would join a growing list of space transportation services that have attracted interest from U.S. companies, including the Boeing Co and Alliant Techsystems Inc.

NASA already has turned over cargo deliveries to the International Space Station to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. The companies hold NASA cargo resupply contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion.

NASA wants a balanced approach in which its contributions will help accelerate the development of industry projects, Crusan said during a follow-on conference call with reporters. "If a team came in and wanted everything from NASA and (wanted) us to build the landing service for them, that's not really much of a partnership," he said.

The space agency also is looking to buy rides commercially for its astronauts. At least three firms, SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp., are in the running for NASA funding to help get their spaceships ready for test flights by the end of 2017.

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NASA puts out the call for commercial lunar landers