--- title: "NASA Wants to Pay Private Companies to Bag Moon Dirt" description: "NASA announced it's soliciting commercial companies to collect space resources, including Moon \"dirt,\" an effort to create a marketplace for space rocks." date: "2020-09-10" modified: "2020-09-10" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-buying-moon-dirt-rocks-companies" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "lunar surface" - "moon rock" - "space resources" - "the digest" --- # NASA Wants to Pay Private Companies to Bag Moon Dirt ![NASA announced it's soliciting commercial companies to collect space resources, including Moon "dirt," an effort to create a marketplace for space rocks.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Moon Rocks NASA [announced today]() that it's soliciting commercial companies to collect space resources, including Moon "dirt" — and sell it to them. The requirements stipulate that companies collect the rocks on the lunar surface, take a picture as proof, and hand them over to NASA afterwards. "After ownership transfer, the collected material becomes the sole property of NASA for our use," according to [a statement]() by NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. "We are putting our policies into practice to fuel a new era of exploration and discovery that will benefit all of humanity," Bridenstine wrote. NASA wants to retrieve the first Moon rocks "before 2024." ## It's a Deal Any company, US or international, collecting the Moon rocks will get "ten percent at award, ten percent upon launch, and the remaining 80 percent upon successful completion," according to NASA. The agency will figure out how to actually retrieve the samples later. NASA is offering up anywhere between $15,000 and $25,000 for the rocks themselves, [*The Verge* reports](). That may seem like a tiny amount, but the idea behind the initiative is to open up a marketplace for buying and selling Moon rocks and other space resources. The initiative is in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's [executive order]() back in April, in which he called for the US to "lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations." **READ MORE:** [NASA wants to buy Moon rocks from private companies]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on space resources:** *[NASA: Please Follow These Space Rules We Can't Enforce]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()