NASA Invites Private Companies To The Moon
Earth rise NASA NASA is officially looking to work with private companies to develop commercial robotic lunar landers that can deliver cargo to the moon's surface. The space agency explains in an announcement that partnerships in lunar cargo transportation "could support commercial activities on the moon while enabling new science and exploration missions of interest to the larger scientific and academic communities." NASA isn't too clear about what exactly it's hoping for private companies to do once they get to the moon. What exactly do they mean by commercial activities? How might companies make money by rocketing off to the moon? One possibility is mining – lunar soil is rich in rare earth elements that are in demand on our home planet, along with helium-3, which could be turned into a clean energy fuel for nuclear fusion. But Professor Ian Crawford of Birkbeck University, London, told BuzzFeed,...