[meteorite-list] NASA could sell...

From: Mark Ford <mark.ford_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:40:32 +0000
Message-ID: <3D7A674A041FFB4DBA68772C82FB4A07215EE359_at_GAMMA2.ssl.atw>

I certainly don't think NASA should sell all the moon rock, but I don't see any harm in selling off a few very carefully selected waste pieces (currently they even count back and store all the waste dust from cutting losses!), there must be a large amount of material that is contaminated by the terrestrial environment by processing/handling etc, that has no special value to science (it's useless). Especially if this money was genuinely used to further space research (naively assuming it really was used for this!), it could actually be used to fund a lot more space/lunar research!

I estimate we probably could fund an automatic sample return mission to both mars [and] to the moon, just for the 'cost' of a few off cut Apollo lunar chunks..



Mark




-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Martin Altmann
Sent: 27 June 2011 08:59
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA could sell...

To sell the Apollo rocks? Have you taken leave of your senses?!?

Those rocks, which the heroes of my youth brought back, risking their lives,
and in the greatest technical adventure of all times??

You're all watching too much TV! Too much science fiction!

We can't go around in the solar system in that way you're taking a cab!
Manned spaceflight is extremely difficult and extremely dangerous.

Look what we can do. At the moment we have an assemblage of tin cans in such
a low orbit, a kind of water ski in spaceflight, in a so low orbit, that the
grandmas call the police, whenever the ISS cross over their heads!
And more we cannot!

Now we are all trembling, that the little box called "Dawn" will not fail
and send us some data from the front garden of our tiny solar system.

Lunar materials, think to the millions of man-hours spent in the deserts, to
assemble the tiny pile of lunar meteorites, so small and light-weighted,
that everyone of us can lift it without difficulties.
(And think about that, whenever your nose starts to wrinkle, when such a
specimen offered is lousy 100 bucks more expensive per gram than you
expected.)

And although I feel still quite healthy, I won't live to see a man or woman
on Moon again (not to mention Mars).

Really.
Rather sell the Brooklyn Bridge.

And which meteorites shall NASA sell?
Those from ANSMET?
That isn't possible because the Antarctic Treaty prevents that,

and hey - we're all buyers and sellers of meteorites, so we definitely know,
that the revenues would be out of absolutely all proportion to the expenses
paid to collect these meteorites.
And thus, it would be even probably elements of offence, a misappropriation.

Huh, we're just selling a brachinite, the freshest available, where in 36
years of Antarctic searches by all countries together not more than 3
different were found, together half a pound.
And we are selling that one in slices and not in bulk - and at a total,
wherefore you can pay having an ANSMET-Team exactly one single day on the
ice!
These are the relations.

It is absolutely necessary, that the ANSMET meteorites stay in the courtesy
of governmental institutes and universities - their acquisition was
expensive enough! (No offense, in my eyes these costs are fully justified).
To sell them on the market would bring in peanuts compared to that, what the
taxpayer had spent for them.

And Richard, who says, that NASA wouldn't buy meteorites?
Nasa consists of hundreds of departments - of course if you address to the
janitor, he won't buy a meteorite.
But those exploring the solar system do, of course.

And the abnormal opinion of people, pretending to be scientists interested
in meteorites,
that a Moon or a chondrite is per se a crime,
that you found at best in countries with an underdeveloped meteorite
research like e.g. Australia or Oman,
but certainly not in USA.

;-)
Martin






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Received on Mon 27 Jun 2011 07:40:32 AM PDT