NASA announces it will pay private companies to collect Moon rocks

As apart of the Artemis program that will be sending the first woman and the next man to Moon's surface, NASA has announced it's looking for private companies to acquire some lunar dirt.

The announcement was made on the NASA website, and says that the space agency will pay private companies to "collect a small amount of Moon 'dirt' or rocks from the lunar surface". According to the NASA website, private companies will be required to put in a proposal with the space agency, as well as provide imagery of the collection and collected materials, and location data.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, "We are putting our policies into practice to fuel a new era of exploration and discovery that will benefit all of humanity". The goal of collecting lunar surface samples is to expand our knowledge of the Moon's surface, which will then benefit all of humanity as the knowledge will be relevant in the future years to come with the Artemis program. If you are interested in reading the blog post for yourself, check out this link here.