[meteorite-list] The Apollo Moon Rock Collection

From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:51:32 -0400
Message-ID: <BANLkTimMkOshBLpx_x9gV6f0QHjQa_mHQQ_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Carl and List,

Thanks for your perspective Carl. When framed in that context,
selling the Apollo rocks does seem a bit silly.

However, would the same "Liberty Bell" comparison hold true for ANSMET
specimens? There must be some leftovers or crumbs from the ANSMET
collection that would fetch a small fortune on the collector market.
I'd pay a premium for micromounts from ANSMET.

I didn't mean any disrespect towards the US, NASA, or science by
suggesting that NASA should sell off a small portion of it's
collection. And I agree that the proceeds from the sale would not be
nearly enough to fund a space mission. But I think it could generate
a useful amount of cash that could be put towards good purposes.

I also agree that the Apollo and ANSMET collections should be more
accessible to the public. Perhaps a permanent in-house display with a
self-guided tour could generate a small amount of revenue - charge for
admission and have a gift shop located by the entry/exit with tiny
lucite-encased samples for sale, themed collector displays, and
memorabilia (T-shirts, etc). Of course, it would have to be done
tastefully and respectfully, so it would seem too commercial.

This is surely a pipe-dream, but us laymen have to dream...... :)

One more idea just occurred to me - sell one spot per year on the
ANSMET team to the highest competent bidder. As it stands now, one
has to be degreed to be considered (or be a well-recommended grad
student). But if they would allow the advanced layman to bid for
chance to join the team, I know I would register to bid in a
heartbeat!

Best regards,

MikeG

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On 6/27/11, Carl Agee <agee at unm.edu> wrote:
> Having been in charge of the Apollo Collection as well as the other
> collections at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) from 1998-2002, here is
> my take on this discussion. One of the main goals of curation at JSC
> is preserving the collection for posterity and for future study with
> instruments not yet imagined or by scientists not yet born. The Moon
> rocks are treated like a national treasure. As many of you may know,
> the curation protocols at JSC are the "gold standard" for
> extraterrestrial sample handling. For example, the collection is kept
> in high purity nitrogen, only materials restricted to of short list of
> aluminum, stainless steel, and Teflon are allow to touch the samples.
> The curation facility was built as a clean lab with positive air
> pressure, airlocks, and is operated by a highly trained staff. The
> Lunar Vault is built to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods --
> and just to be on the safe side NASA has placed 15% of the collection
> at White Sands Test Facility, a few miles outside Las Cruces, New
> Mexico, locked away for safe keeping just in case of a catastrophic
> loss of the Lunar Lab in Houston. When people think about what a Mars
> Sample Return Lab design might look like, the first place they start
> from is the Lunar Sample Lab.
>
> Clearly, JSC does a fabulous job of handling, curating, and keeping
> the lunar samples safe, there is no museum or private collector in the
> world that comes close to Lunar Lab quality. However, the one thing
> that I think is missing from this facility is an equally spectacular
> public outreach component. Sure, the public can look at a few Moon
> rocks at museum displays here and there nationwide, but very few
> people ever get the privilege of being a visitor at the Lunar Lab. It
> is NOT open to the public. I think NASA, and JSC in particular, could
> enhance its image and boost public excitement and support for
> astromaterials research by somehow giving better public access to view
> these crown jewels in their laboratory setting.
>
> You may have guessed already that I'm not a big proponent of selling
> off the Moon Rocks to fund NASA missions, as a few people on the list
> have proposed. Even if Americans thought this was a good idea, I am
> pretty sure we would come up a few billion dollars short to do
> anything like a decent robotic Mars Sample Return. Furthermore, I
> doubt if many Americans would be in favor of cutting up pieces of the
> Declaration of Indepence or chunks of the Liberty Bell to sell as high
> priced souvenirs, or sell off tracts of Yellowstone Park to reduce our
> nation's debt. But I do think the Lunar Collection could be opened up
> to the public in away that would be beneficial to everyone, not the
> least to NASA itself.
>
> Carl Agee
>
> --
> Carl B. Agee
> Director and Curator, Institute of Meteoritics
> Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences
> MSC03 2050
> University of New Mexico
> Albuquerque NM 87131-1126
>
> Tel: (505) 750-7172
> Fax: (505) 277-3577
> Email: agee at unm.edu
> http://epswww.unm.edu/iom/pers/agee.html
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Received on Mon 27 Jun 2011 03:51:32 PM PDT