[meteorite-list] Laws and Lunar-cy
From: David R. Vann <drvann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 15:09:23 -0500 Message-ID: <D61D193378EB47E29E20DE66AE4F1C21_at_sas.upenn.edu> A careful reading of entries in the Congressional Record would support the following: All specimens brought back from the Apollo missions are owned by the U.S. Government, and are under the purview of NASA. Some few samples were given out during that period as 'good will' gifts. These were to other governments, and their whereabouts are largely known. The sample given to the Honduran gov. ended up in private hands. Samples given to astronauts in honor of their service cannot be sold by the astronaut, nor their heirs. If the family no longer wants the sample, it can be 'loaned' to a museum, or returned to NASA. ALL samples loaned out or 'donated' by NASA are *technically* still theirs, and remain under their purview. They can be recalled at any time for 'research ' purposes. Nowhere is there a specific statute saying it is illegal to own lunar samples. It is, however, illegel to posses someone else's stuff. Consequently, we don't need a staute explicitly limiting your possession of samples that are legally owned by NASA. Ergo, unless there there is a clear legal trail (such as for the camera cartridge dust), there are no samples of lunar material out there that you can lay claim to. A friend/colleague of mine worked on the Apollo samples back when. He indicates that it is not inconceivable that someone 'removed' tiny pieces that went unaccounted for in the all the chemical, etc. analyses done back then, but things were pretty tight. Any such pieces are essentially untraceable and un -provenanced (if such is a word). And, if it can be proved that it is a real lunar sample, NASA can take it back, as it would have been obtained under false pretenses, i.e. theft. So, there is a law, it says you can't take other's stuff. The legislature did not a need to write another law that says, you can't take NASA's stuff. But, what's NASA's is NASA's, and they can take it back from you if you have it. David R. Vann, Ph.D. Department of Earth and Environmental Science THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA 240 S. 33rd St. Philadelphia, PA 19104-6316 drvann at sas.upenn.edu office: 215-898-4906 FAX: 215-898-0964 Received on Fri 04 Feb 2011 03:09:23 PM PST |
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