The space agency is dishing out almost $20 million to research creating rocket fuel from material found on the Moon and Mars. (Credit: NASA Goddard)

NASA has awarded a total of $17.4 million to
four private aerospace companies to study and produce technologies that could help
future space missions create fuel on the Moon and Mars.

The companies include Jeff Bezo’s spaceship company, Blue Origin, as well as Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The other two recipients are OxEon Energy, a Utah-based clea