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US space agency NASA awarded contracts to four companies Thursday to collect lunar samples of $ 1 to $ 15,000, rock-bottom prices that are set to set a precedent for the private sector’s future exploitation of space resources.
“I think it’s a little surprising that we can buy lunar regolith from four companies for a total of $ 25,001,” said Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s Division of Commercial Space Flights.
Contracts are with Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colorado for $ 1; Tokyo’s ispace Japan for $ 5,000; ispace Europe of Luxembourg for $ 5,000; and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California for $ 15,000.
The companies plan to collect during planned unmanned missions to the Moon in 2022 and 2023.
Companies must collect a small amount of lunar soil known as Moon-regulated and provide images to NASA of the collection and material collected.
Ownership of the lunar soil will then be transferred to NASA and will become “the exclusive property of NASA for the agency’s use under the Artemis program.”
As part of the Artemis program, NASA plans to land a man and a woman on the moon by 2024 and lay the foundations for sustainable exploration and an eventual mission to Mars.
“The precedent is a very important part of what we’re doing today,” said Mike Gold, NASA’s associate administrator for international and inter-agency relations.
Read also: Moon richer in water than previously thought
“We believe it is very important to set the precedent that private sector entities can mine, they can take these resources but NASA can buy and use them to power not just NASA’s operations, but a whole new dynamic era of public development and exploration. and private on the moon, “Gold said.
“We have to learn how to generate our own water, air and even fuel,” he said. “Living off the earth will allow for ambitious exploration activities that will result in awe inspiring science and unprecedented discoveries.”
Any lessons learned on the moon would be crucial to an eventual mission to Mars.
“The human mission to Mars will be even more challenging and challenging than our moon operations, which is why it is so vital to learn from our experiences on the moon and apply those lessons to Mars,” Gold said.
“We want to explicitly demonstrate that you can mine, you can use the resources and that we will conduct these activities in full compliance with the Outer Space Treaty,” he said. “This is the precedent that is important. It is important that America is a leader, not only in technology, but in politics.”
The US is trying to set a precedent because there is currently no international consensus on property rights in space, and China and Russia have not reached an understanding with the US on the matter.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is vague but holds that outer space “is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, for use or occupation or by any other means.”
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