NASA Says it Will Pay Private Companies to Gather Moon Rocks
DannyB writes:
NASA says it will pay private companies to gather Moon rocks:
NASA will only pay the bulk of the funds after lunar material is collected.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Thursday that the space agency will seek to purchase between 50 and 500 grams of lunar regolith from one or more commercial providers.
In its newly issued "request for quotations," NASA is asking private companies to submit bids for the work. As part of the competitive process, NASA may select one or more companies but will only pay the bulk of the contract price-80 percent-upon delivery of the materials.
NASA has made one important concession as part of its contract, allowing that "delivery" of the materials may take place on the Moon.
[...] Speaking at the Secure World Foundation's Summit for Space Sustainability on Thursday morning, Bridenstine said one goal of the proposal is to create a norm for this kind of commercial activity within the Outer Space Treaty. Like on Earth, he said, "You do not own the ocean, but you own the tuna."
[...] There has been much talk over the last decade of mining asteroids for rare metals or collecting water ice from the lunar poles. But these are big, hard, expensive things to do. What NASA's announcement has done is signal to companies that it is a potential customer for lunar resources.
It would seem SLS is the ideal launch vehicle for private companies to select for their various missions to collect lunar regolith.
Also at: CNBC.
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