[meteorite-list] The Apollo Moon Rock Collection

From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:57:46 -0400
Message-ID: <BANLkTikX-X3V44ZPOxM1t7gqqOBT+DVgbw_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi List and fall watchers,

Kosice is now official in the Met Bulletin -
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=53810

Feb 28, 2010 - H5 chondrite, TKW 4.3kg, Main Mass 2.2kg, Shock S3.

Above stats according to Met Bulletin entry.

With this new approval, 2010 now has 5 recognized falls, which is
right on par for the 10-year average of ~5 falls per year -
http://www.galactic-stone.com/pages/falls

For more info on the statistical trends of falls between 2000 and 2010
(not yet updated), see here -
http://www.galactic-stone.com/pages/20falls

Best regards,

MikeG

PS - it seems to me that we are overdue for another new recovered fall. :)

-- 
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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 09:57:46 PM PDT