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NASA Now Accepting Applications From Companies That Want To Mine the Moon

Posted by samzenpus on from the getting-some-cheese dept.

cold fjord writes "The Verge reports, "NASA is now working with private companies to take the first steps in exploring the moon for valuable resources like helium 3 and rare earth metals. Initial proposals are due tomorrow for the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown program (CATALYST). One or more private companies will win a contract to build prospecting robots, the first step toward mining the moon. Final proposals are due on March 17th, 2014. NASA has not said when it will announce the winner."

3 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. I need NASA's permission to mine the moon now? by bazmail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hey NASA, race ya.

  2. NASA? by schneidafunk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I didn't realize NASA owned the moon.

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  3. Re:Space 1999, Sorta by Minwee · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Um, the moon has a mass of 73,476,730,900,000,000,000,000 kilograms. A few million tons either way isn't even a dent in that.

    There are entirely different reasons why you should worry about huge masses of rock being produced on the moon and thrown down to Earth.