Well, this is NASA. They are not exactly rolling in cash. Maybe you could look at it as a sort of a voluntarily paid tax, earmarked for space exploration? I, for one, would be happy to donate some of my time for the cause, if they were willing to let me.

> is this the future of work?

Not just the future: many people have contributed to open source projects that have ended up being used in commercial projects, and never received any payment for their work.