#NASA? PURCHASING #MOONDUST? FOR UPTO $15000

The US space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), had doled out contracts to four companies on December 3 to collect samples from the Moon. One of these four companies, Lunar Outpost of Golden in Colorado, is only getting paid $1.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) on Thursday awarded contracts to four companies to collect lunar samples in the next few years for $1 to $15,000. As per the deal, the four companies will collect lunar samples and dirt in the next few years and then sign the material over to Nasa.

"I think it's kind of amazing that we can buy lunar regolith from four companies for a total of $25,001," news agency AFP quoted Phil McAlister, director of Nasa's Commercial Spaceflight Division, as saying.

The contracts are with Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colorado for $1; ispace Japan of Tokyo for $5,000; ispace Europe of Luxembourg for $5,000; and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California for $15,000.