The moon contains untapped resources worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and NASA has been looking to partner with private companies to bring some of these valuable minerals back to Earth.

The agency took one of the first steps on the road to making mining on the moon a reality this week with awarding its first-ever payment to a startup, as part of a space resource contract.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson gave Justin Cyrus, CEO of Colorado-based space startup Lunar Outpost, a symbolic payment of 10 cents to launch the company’s program to return moon dust to Earth.

“We had contractual terms with them when they produced the first ingredient,” Nelson said.

He added, “We’ll give them 10% of their contract. I’m happy to present a check for 10% of the bid. Justin, that’s a check for 10 cents.”

Moon dust could one day be used as a building material for future colonists, but NASA needs to bring a significant amount back to Earth for testing.

Nelson says that the resources mined on the Moon “will play a key role in NASA’s Artemis program and the future of space exploration. The ability to extract and use resources beyond Earth will ensure that Artemis operations can be safely and sustainably conducted to support human exploration.”

Lunar Outpost is one of four companies contracted to help develop this “space concrete” along with other American start-ups, such as Masten Space Systems in California, and private Japanese company iSpace, which is developing technologies for robotic spacecraft, which is located in California. It is currently headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with offices in the United States and Luxembourg.

As part of @NASAArtemis, Lunar Outpost has received the first-ever payment for the collection and commercialization of resources from the lunar surface! Lunar Outpost is currently on track to deliver the samples in Q4 of 2022.#NASA #lunaroutposthttps://t.co/UxBOgENS29

— Lunar Outpost (@LunarOutpostInc) August 31, 2021

There are some practical uses for this technology here on Earth. Lunar dust is not only a potential building material, it can also be a dangerous pollutant if it reaches a future lunar base.

Nelson said the Lunar Outpost “developed an air quality sensor to meet NASA’s need to contain dangerous lunar dust,” and has already led “to technology that senses pollutants on the ground to protect firefighters.”

Here is the @LunarOutpostInc crew accepting a check for the first payment on a contract to purchase space resources in history. Perhaps the best 10 cents NASA has ever spent. Thank you @next and @SenBillNelson! We are on our way to collect your order of moon dust. pic.twitter.com/KtsYhFvYc2

— Forrest E. Meyen, 🚀 PhD (@ForrestMeyen) August 25, 2021

Justin Cyrus of Lunar Outpost told Space that in the first place, the company will be collecting “100 grams of lunar regolith.”

But he added, in addition to moon dust, they will also look for other materials, including water ice. He said there will be some “exciting payloads” returning from the Moon in the near future.

Today, as part of @NASA‘s Artemis Program, Lunar Outpost received the first-ever payment for the collection and commercialization of resources from the lunar surface!#NASA #spacesymposium #lunaroutpost #spaceexploration #moon2022 #thenextleap https://t.co/FeaoHZ2fDr

— Lunar Outpost (@LunarOutpostInc) August 23, 2021

Experts say there may be large deposits of iron, titanium, aluminum, calcium and silicon on the moon as well.

“The ability to extract and use resources beyond Earth will ensure that Artemis operations can be conducted safely and sustainably to support the establishment of human exploration of the Moon,” NASA says.

A spokesperson for the agency added that space mining “will be tested and developed on the Moon, building the knowledge required to implement new capabilities that will be necessary to overcome the challenges of a human mission to Mars.”