The companies plan to carry out the collection during already scheduled unmanned missions to the moon in 2022 and 2023. The firms are to collect a small amount of lunar soil known as regolith from the moon and to provide imagery to Nasa of the collection and the collected material. Also Read - Chinese probe completes moon samplingOwnership of the lunar soil will then be transferred to Nasa and it will become the "sole property of Nasa for the agency's use under the Artemis program." Under the Artemis program, Nasa plans to land a man and a woman on the moon by 2024 and lay the groundwork for sustainable exploration and an eventual mission to Mars. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is vague but it deems outer space to be "not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 03, 2020 21:22 UTC