NASA expects to conduct lunar mining experiments within 10 years, ranging from oxygen to rare earths.

CTOnews.com, June 29 (Reuters)-NASA is seeking to develop lunar resources, which initially include oxygen and water, and may eventually expand to iron and rare earths, and has taken steps to dig lunar soil by 2032, a NASA scientist said yesterday.

A key component of PexelsNASA's new moon landing program is to promote space business opportunities. Gerald Sanders, a rocket scientist who has worked at the NASA Johnston Space Center for 35 years, said the agency was seeking to quantify potential resources, including energy, water and lunar soil, to attract business investment.

Sanders said that the development of access to lunar resources will be the key to reducing space costs and developing a circular economy. "We are trying to understand the state of lunar resources during the exploration phase to reduce risk, so as to make external investment more valuable and promote development and production," he said at a mining conference in Brisbane. "but we're really just scratching the surface."

NASA will send a test rig to the moon at the end of this month and plans to excavate lunar soil or weathering layers on a larger scale and set up a pilot processing plant in 2032, Sanders said. The first customers are expected to be commercial rocket companies that can use lunar resources for fuel or oxygen.

Samuel Webster, assistant director of the Australian Space Agency, said the agency was involved in the development of a semi-autonomous rover that would collect samples of lunar weathering and oxidized lunar soil during a lunar mission at NASA as early as 2026. NASA plans to use independent equipment sent to the moon with the lunar rover to extract oxygen from the soil.

CTOnews.com previously reported that NASA plans to send U.S. astronauts back to the moon, including the first woman and people of color, by 2025, and to learn from the mission to facilitate Mars exploration.