NASA commissions firms to get lunar samples…for very little money

by | Dec 4, 2020 | exploration, NASA, Satellites, Seradata News

While it plans to get its own lunar samples via its Artemis human lunar programme, in the meantime NASA has selected four companies to collect some and transfer ownership of these samples to the agency. The companies selected are: Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colorado; Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California; ispace Europe of Luxembourg; and ispace Japan of Tokyo. The dollar value of these contracts very low totalling only US$25,001 of which Lunar Outpost is only receiving a single dollar. The Companies will receive 10% of their total proposed price upon award, 10% at launch, and the remaining 80% upon successful completion – meaning that Lunar Outpost which only bid and was awarded one US dollar for its service, will only get ten cents initially.

Details about the selection are:

  • Lunar Outpost proposed collection for $1 following arrival of a lander to the lunar South Pole in 2023.
  • ispace Japan proposed collection for $5,000 following arrival in 2022 of a lander to Lacus Somniorum on the Moon’s north-eastern near side.
  • ispace Europe proposed collection for $5,000 following arrival in 2023 of a lander to the lunar South Pole.
  • Masten Space Systems proposed collection for $15,000 following arrival in 2023 of a lander to the lunar South Pole.

The awards have been made partly as a legal test in international law to make certain that lunar minerals can be recovered. The companies will collect a small amount of lunar regolith from any location on the Moon and provide imagery to NASA of the collection and the collected material, along with data that identifies the collection location. Subsequent to receiving such imagery and data, an “in-place” transfer of ownership of the lunar regolith to NASA will take place. After ownership transfer, the collected material becomes the sole property of NASA for the agency’s use under the Artemis program.

About Seradata

Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochinaFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticULAfalcon 9evaRoscosmosspacewalkDGAaviation weekBlue OriginInternational Space StationaresIGTsoyuzRocket LabBeidouawardsStarlinkspaceAirbus DSboeingSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonOneWebISROCargo Return VehiclemarsblogresearchspaceshiptwoorionjaxamarsimpactdelayhyperbolaEutelsatdemocratrocketlunarhypertextobamagoogle lunar prizelaunchVegathales alenia spaceSESconstellationtourismbarack obamafiguresnorthspaceflightIntelsatnode 2fundedRaymond Lygo2009Lockheed MartinExpress MD-2Elon MuskAtlas Vromess2dassault aviationsstlaviationLucy2008wk2ukradiosuborbitaltestmissiledocking portexplorationAriane 5 ECAVirgin OrbitinternetSLSLong March 2D/2ElectronNorthrop GrummanChina Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5missile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Long March 4CspaceportExpress AMU 1buildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1aProton Minternational astronautical congressshuttlespace shuttleAriane 6scaled compositesIntelsat 23European Space AgencyLauncherOneCosmoshanleybudgetrulesnew yorkatvVietnamshenzhoucongressMojaveboldennew shepardLong March 2CInmarsatOrbital ATKcnesiaclunar landerGuiana Space CenterApollolawsUS Air ForceSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AkscprotonILSdarpaTalulah RileyVega CElectron KSFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5North KoreaeuSkylonAstriumlanderbaseusaastronautdragonpicturefiveeventTelesatSSLAprilSNC50thinterviewSea LaunchLong MarchfalconWednesdaycustomerlinkatlantissuccessor

Stay Informed with Seradata

Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.