NASA is paying startups for moon rocks. It’s not what you think

It’s not yet clear if any of the companies will succeed in their efforts. NASA says it will only pay 10% of the total purchase price upfront. And yes, NASA plans to mail Lunar Outpost’s a check for 10¢, according to Phil McAlister, NASA’s director of commercial spaceflight development. The companies will receive another 10% after their rovers launch into space, and the final 80% will be paid out after the companies prove to NASA that their rovers have actually collected lunar soil samples of between 50 and 500 grams, or up to about a pound when weighed on Earth.

The trek to the moon is not easy. The companies will need to buy a ride on a rocket that can carry their rovers all the way to the moon, and they’ll need a lunar lander which can ferry the rovers down to the lunar surface. But if the rovers can get there, the companies will not be required to bring the soil samples they collect back to Earth. McAlister said it’s also unclear if NASA plans to bring them home at all because that’s not the point of the program.

“We think it’s very important to establish the precedent that private-sector entities can extract these resources and NASA can purchase” them, NASA executive Mike Gold told reporters Thursday.

The economic incentive for the four companies signed up for NASA’s new lunar resource program is not exactly clear, but all of the companies are already well underway developing various lunar exploration technologies.

The company also described its interest in the resource recovery program — and its $1 bid — as a stepping stone toward more extraterrestrial business opportunities.

“NASA and Lunar Outpost will work in conjunction to begin the process of developing the legal and logistical framework for future space resource acquisition contracts,” a company press release states.

What selling Moon rocks will mean

The United States made it clear in recent years that it aims to create an extraterrestrial economy, one that relies as much on building a private-sector presence in outer space as fulfilling science and research goals. But plans to mine resources on the moon are controversial.

Some scientists fear that excessive business activity could contaminate or destroy areas of the moon that could provide key clues about how the moon — and the Earth — were formed.

“Very few countries, it seems, are willing to sign away their profits for the common good,” he wrote.

Others argue that commercializing space exploration can be a win-win.

“It’s important that we balance, moving forward together in a way that will enable this [lunar] economy as well as the science,” said Clive Neal, an engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame. “My way of looking at this is that if we look at moon resources as resources for science, and a resource for exploration, and a resource for commercial participation everybody wins because the data sets that we need are pretty much the same.”

It should be noted that NASA’s resource extraction program will involve digging up very small amounts of the lunar surface.

What lunar resources can be used for

Apart from studying lunar soil for scientific purposes, researchers hope that resources found on the moon can help support future astronauts who live and work at a lunar outpost. The moon’s water ice, for example, can be converted to drinking water.

Still, many experts are skeptical of the idea that these opportunities can draw — and sustain — private-sector interest.