December 2020, Lunar Outpost received the first contract in human history from NASA for Space Resources. Lunar Outpost will be collecting lunar regolith from the lunar South Pole as part of its commercial mission in 2023. Once the regolith is collected, under U.S law it is the legal property of the commercial entity that collected it. Then Lunar Outpost will sell the lunar regolith in place to NASA for Artemis astronauts or robots to pick up later.
Mission Overview:
This contract provides the first framework for transactions involving space resources. The legal and procedural framework will be critical to humanity's utilization of space. The precedent set by this contract and its transactions will allow Lunar Outpost and companies for generations to come, to go access the near-inifinite resources of space.
By enabling access to these resources, we will fundamentally change the way humanity operates by ending scarcity on Earth.
The next step is a Mission Readiness Review with NASA, which upon completion will grant Lunar Outpost 10% of the total contract value. Then upon launch in 2023 another 10% of the contract value will be awarded. Then lastly, Lunar Outpost will transfer ownership of the lunar regolith for 80% of the contract value once the Mission has been successfully completed on the lunar surface.
Learn more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/03/nasa-will-pay-a-company-1-to-collect-moon-rocks.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55170788
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/03/moon-mining-contracts-named/
https://www.space.com/nasa-lunar-outpost-check-moon-resources