NASA wishes to buy lots of moon dust and rocks from several private firms that could attain them from the moon, the fresh action in the space agency’s extensive push to commercialize space exploration.
NASA wants to purchase loads of rocks and dust from private-sector companies that could collect them from the moon, the latest step in the space agency’s decade-long push to commercialize space exploration https://t.co/lEXCNWC3cu
— CNN (@CNN) September 11, 2020
The formal request, which was published on Thursday, says that NASA is ready to pay for those rock samples between fifty grams and 500 grams. It would pay around a pound when those moon rocks weighted on Earth. Moreover, NASA described that the funds will be fully paid once firms can ‘provide imagery’ proving those moon rock samples have been harvested, and complete ownership of those samples is delivered to NASA, the announcement says.
NASA expects that the moon rocks will be gathered by 2024 and described that bids would be appreciated by firms all across the world.
Source: Web
U.S. Govt. to make policy for the encouragement of international support
In the announcement, the space agency noted that the vision of the American government is to develop rules and regulations that will encourage international help for the public and private recovery and consumption of resources in outer space.
On Thursday’s announcement, NASA said that they know a supportive policy with respect to the recovery and consumption of the space resources is crucial to the creation of a stable and predictable investment environment for commercial space entrepreneurs and innovators.
Casey Dreier, a senior policy adviser, and the chief advocated at Planetary Society, said that NASA declaring that it would pay firms for rocks samples from the moon, establishes a significant legal precedent.
It is hotly questioned in international law to sell or own extraterrestrial resources. Furthermore, the widely approved in 1969 Outer Space Treaty is not particularly clear on that topic, and in 1979 moon treaty seeking to explain the subject has only been approved by eighteen countries except the United States.
Dreier said that the new policy of NASA basically confirms that, in front of the American government, firms can make the amount off of resources they gather. And it would inspire venture capitalists and many others to invest higher in the space exploration technologies.
Dreier even said that there is no surety that there will be a hundred percent profit to be made by gathering moon rock samples. Furthermore, it is nor clear now how the massive commercial market could be viable in the space. Dreier added that it is a type of the grand practical that they are actually initializing to run now.
