NASA Wants To Buy Lunar Rocks, Dirt From Private Companies That Mine On Moon

Instead of launching its own lunar probes for any research material to be collected from Earth¡¯s natural satellite, NASA is now turning to private companies to get the job done. The US space agency aims to collaborate with private companies from across the globe which can bring in lunar dirt and rocks for it to study.

The new initiative by NASA is a critical one in the field of space exploration, having the potential to set up a whole new marketplace around the globe. As per a blog post, the space agency has released a ¡°solicitation for commercial companies to provide proposals for the collection of space resources.¡±

For now, there are specific goals that NASA is looking to meet with such an offer. It outlines that a company will ¡°collect a small amount of Moon ¡°dirt¡± or rocks from any location on the lunar surface.¡± The company will have to show the proof of the collection as well as the material collected through images.

NASA Artemis Mission (Representative Image: NASA)

The space agency will also require data that identifies the collection location. Once everything is cross-checked, an ¡°in-place¡± transfer of ownership of the lunar regolith or rocks will take place to handover the material to NASA. ¡°After ownership transfer, the collected material becomes the sole property of NASA for our use,¡± NASA clarifies.

NASA aims to complete this process of retrieval and transfer of ownership of the resources before 2024.

In the future, NASA will think of ways to retrieve the transferred property back to Earth.

A whole new world of opportunity

Earth's moon. (Image: NASA)

NASA has cleared that it may make ¡°one or more awards¡± around the task. With this, the US space agency claims to have created ¡°a full and open competition, not limited to U.S. companies.¡±

The payment to be done by NASA, however, will be exclusively for the lunar regolith. A timeline division of the payment indicates that the awardee will receive 10 percent of the total agree amount at award, 10 percent upon launch and the remaining 80 percent upon successful completion.

A report by The Verge indicates that NASA will pay anywhere between $15,000 and $25,000 for the resources. Though the amount seems to be quite meager, considering the cost of missions to the moon, the big plus is that the solicitation will open up a whole new lunar marketplace.

The research from the resources will help NASA in its future missions to the moon, aimed to take US citizens back to the lunar surface. NASA has even assigned its astronauts for the same under its Artemis program.