NASA wants companies to dig up the moon and hand it over

NASA wants samples of moon dirt for its lunar base plans and wants companies to compete on getting them and handing them over.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Thursday the agencywas opening up a solicitation to commercial companies to propose howtheywould collect such lunar regolith, provide images and locations of it to NASA and eventually deliver it to the agency.

“NASA’s goal is that the retrieval and transfer of ownership will be completed before 2024,” Bridenstine stated in a blog post. That’s the year NASA is aiming to land the next humans, including the first woman, on the moon as part of the Artemis program.

The competition is not limited to U.S. companies and NASA may award more than one contract. The goal is to get surface samples, between 50 and 500 grams of moon soil, from a variety of locations on the moon to analyze where the best place would be to build up a lunar base infrastructure for a continued presence on the moon, Bridenstine said.

“Leveraging commercial involvement as part of Artemis will enhance our ability to safely return to the moon in a sustainable, innovative, and affordable fashion,” he said.

NASA is requesting firms to quote a price in their response to the solicitationandthepercentage payouts would be based on their proposed price.

NASA is asking the companies to come up with their own payout price in the solicitation, andNASA said the contract will pay out 10% when it’s awarded, another 10% when the company launches its mission and the final 80% when the goods are delivered, using a method of transfer to be determined at a later date. Bids are due Oct. 9.

When the transfer is complete, the lunar soil will be the sole property of NASA, according to the contract.

In a video released by NASA, it outlines the enticement and benefit of commercial harvesting of lunar resources.

“The collection and transfer will be a proof of concept for conducting space commerce on the moon,” reads a statement in the video. “Then commercial space

NASA wants firms to collect dirt from the moon for its lunar base plans.

innovators and entrepreneurs can identify new ways to invest in human exploration and development on the moon.”

Bridenstine said the call on commercial companies should not be met with any legal hurdles because of an executive order by President Trump in April that looked to clarify theU.S. stance on

whether or not people could mine themoon.

That order titled “Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources” states the U.S. is signed onto an agreement from 1967, the “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space,

Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” thathadnoissue with the removal of resources.

Other countries, but not the U.S., have since signed the socalled “Moon Agreement,” that calls for nonscientific resource allocation of the moon to be governed by an international body.

“We are putting our policies into practice to fuel a new era of exploration and discovery that will benefit all of humanity,” Bridenstine said.

Bridenstine said the ability to use the resources on the moon are essential to establishing NASA’s lunar presenceandof achieving its goal of getting to Mars, where it will also need to use on-site resources.

“We must proceedwith alacrity todevelop techniquesandgain experience with (in-situ resources utilization) on the surface of the moon,” Bridenstine said. “The scientific discoveries gained through robust, sustainable, and safe lunar exploration will benefit all of humanity.”

See details of the solicitation https:// beta.sam .gov/opp/77726177617a 45d0a196e23a587d7c14/view at