NASA paying startups $1 for moon rocks

How much is the Moon rock worth? NASA has signed four startups to collect space resources, its somewhere between $1 and $15,000.

Back in September, the US space agency pledged to buy moon rocks from companies that can get robotic rovers to the moon surface and collect the samples.

Four companies – Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colorado; Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California; ispace Europe of Luxembourg; and ispace Japan of Tokyo – won the bid and were unveiled on Thursday.

The startups will collect "a small amount" of material from the surface of the moon's south pole in 2023, NASA announced Thursday.

The total contract is worth $1 — with the first payment representing 10% of the total.

Space resources will play a key role in NASA’s Artemis program and future space exploration.

"Is NASA going to cut a check for 10 cents [to Lunar Outpost]? The answer is yes," Phil McAlister, NASA commercial spaceflight director, said during a press conference Thursday.

The agency asked for bids between $15,000 and $25,000 for the collection program, but approved the $1 bid because Lunar Outpost was already planning to collect lunar material, McAlister said.

NASA's first batch of grants announced Thursday totaled $25,001.

Alongside $1 for Lunar Outpost, it will give $5,000 to ispace Europe of Luxembourg and $15,000 to California's Masten Space Systems. Like Lunar Outpost, both companies will collect the material from the moon's south pole in 2023.

NASA also announced a $5,000 contract with ispace Japan to collect material from the Lacus Somniorum area on the Moon's north-eastern surface in 2022.