[meteorite-list] Moon rocks
From: cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:05:10 -0400 Message-ID: <20120415110510.E4VW9.346408.imail_at_fed1rmwml113> List, As usual, Sterling is right again. This thread was pretty well covered in a similar situation with a different eBay offering on Feb. 3, 2011. as can be found in the archives. Here is a portion of that thread that is rather interesting reading.; [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? Matson, Robert D. ROBERT.D.MATSON at saic.com Thu Feb 3 19:52:29 EST 2011 Previous message: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? Next message: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If the sample is real, it is an extraordinarily large one (comparatively speaking). As such, it's surprising that someone would be dumb enough to try to sell it on eBay. --Rob -----Original Message----- From: Thunder Stone [mailto:stanleygregr at hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 4:42 PM To: mike; Matson, Robert D. Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? All: Appears it is illegal to own one - but as to it being real - probable? http://blogs.airspacemag.com/moon/2009/07/can-you-legally-own-a-piece-of-the-moon/ Can You Legally Own a Piece of the Moon? A Moon rock on Mt. Everest: Not for keeps Mr. Ian Sheffield of Edinburgh Scotland is miffed. He claims to have not one, but two dust samples of the Moon-one from the Apollo 11 mission and another from the Apollo 15 mission. He explains that he bought these lunar samples "from a dealer" about 3 years ago. The article does not indicate how much he paid for them, but he does allow that each is valued at "around ?2000" (about $3300) each. A problem arose when he planned to display his samples to the public. He apparently wrote to NASA asking if he could exhibit them. To his astonishment, NASA refused to give him permission and demanded the return of the samples, claiming that the lunar dust in his possession was property of the United States government. Mr. Sheffield's story of how the samples came into his possession is interesting. He states the dust came off a camera film pack to which a technician in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory was accidentally exposed. Because no one was sure the lunar samples would not contain some possible primitive (and pathogenic) organisms when the Apollo 11 crew first returned to Earth, they had to spend three weeks in quarantine. Anybody in the LRL exposed to lunar material was compelled to join the astronauts in their quarantine. The technician who was exposed went into isolation and (the story claims) upon his release, "was given the dust as a memento." My antennae went up at this point. No lunar samples are "given" to private individuals. Each piece of the Moon returned by the Apollo astronauts is carefully accounted for and resides in the Lunar Curatorial Facility in Houston, where they are kept in two separate hurricane-proof vaults. Many lunar samples are loaned to scientific institutions for study. The only lunar samples given away (of which I am aware) were to about a hundred national leaders during President Nixon's 1969 world tour. The beautiful "Space Window" in the Washington National Cathedral, honoring man's landing on the Moon, holds a 7.18-gram basalt from Mare Tranquillitatis, on loan to the Cathedral. Other moon rocks were presented to the Apollo astronauts (and Walter Cronkite) in 2004. However, each plaque came with a catch: the lunar samples can not be personally held by the recipients, and must be displayed at a local school or museum. Recently, Astronaut Scott Parazynski was loaned a sample of the Moon's regolith that he carried to the summit of Mount Everest. Some diplomatic gifts of lunar samples have found their way onto the black market. A notorious case is a sample presented to the people of Honduras back in 1969. This sample turned up during a NASA Inspector General "sting" which was designed to catch dealers of fake lunar samples. To the agents' surprise, they were offered a genuine lunar rock: asking price, $5 million. A meeting was arranged and the rock (and presumably, the seller) was seized. Another lunar sample was stolen from a museum in Malta between 1990 and 1994; it was recovered in another sting operation in 1998. The federal government forbids private ownership of any Apollo sample. Yet, such samples show up every now and then. The most common form they take is dust stuck to adhesive tape (an easy way to "clean" the surface of some exposed sample container, tool, or space suit used on the lunar surface). Mr. Sheffield's sample is likely to be one of these pieces. Its status, I was surprised to find out, is legally uncertain. Although NASA has sued in court to recover any such bootleg sample, no prosecution has succeeded, except for those caught (literally) in the act of theft. In an embarrassing incident for NASA, a summer intern and two companions carried a safe full of lunar samples out of a building at Johnson Space Center (as Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up). They were apprehended while trying to sell them at bargain basement prices and subsequently prosecuted. It was rumored for years that several of the Apollo astronauts held samples from their respective missions. If they did, it was probably inadvertent-the lunar dust is extremely adhesive and it is possible that smudges of lunar dust clung to personal items returned from the Moon in their Personal Preference Kits. Alan Bean, who documents the Apollo experience through his oil paintings, is said to add ground-up patches retrieved from his lunar space suit to his works. His reasoning is that because his suit was dirty with lunar dust, some of that dust must find its way into his paintings, giving them a true "lunar" ambiance. So Mr. Ian Sheffield of Edinburgh may be home free. I might suggest to him that given their quasi-legal status, he is probably better off not calling attention to his possession of these unique artifacts. In fact, although NASA frowns on owning stolen Apollo lunar samples, there are dozens of lunar samples available for sale on eBay. A number of meteorites recovered on Earth, came from the Moon. Although most of them belong to national governments that sponsor the recovery of meteorites from Antarctica, several are in private hands and can be bought and sold, just as any commodity. Right now, there is a very nice anorthositic breccia from the lunar highlands for sale. Better hurry though - the sale only lasts another day. Oh yes, the asking price: a mere $144,000. By the way, over the years, I have been asked to look at a few "lunar" samples that were in fact, lunar fakes. Caveat Emptor! ---------------------------------------- > Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 18:40:06 -0500 > From: meteoritemike at gmail.com > To: ROBERT.D.MATSON at saic.com > CC: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? > > Hi Robert and List, > > I saw that listing last night. I'm not 100% certain, but I think it is > illegal to sell such a specimen. And I think it might be illegal just > to own it. And even if it's legal, there's no way to tell if it's > real, based on the photos and description. > > Best regards, > > MikeG > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites > > Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com Facebook - > http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone > News Feed - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516 > Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone Meteorite Top List - > http://meteorite.gotop100.com EOM - > http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/collection.aspx?id=1564 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > - > On 2/3/11, Matson, Robert D. wrote: > > Probably impossible to tell from the pictures, but what are the odds > > that this is truly Apollo material? > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150557455015 > > > > --Rob -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous message: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? Next message: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay? Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More information about the Meteorite-list mailing list Carl Meteoritemax -- Cheers ---- D Miller <dannyspl at aol.com> wrote: > Lol that's it! > > Sent from T-Mobile G2 with Google > > "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > >Dan, List, > > > >THIS $4.7 million Moon Rock? > >http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum27/HTML/003260.html > > > >As they point out, that $4.7 million is just an > >opening bid; there is a reserve. But, but on the > >bright side... Free Shipping! > > > >I suppose it would be more or less legal to sell > >someone a Moon Rock on eBay and when the > >auction was complete, tell the buyer that his > >purchase was ON the Moon and all he had to > >do was to arrange his own shipping or just go > >pick it up himself... > > > > > >Sterling K. Webb > >-------------------------------------------------------------- > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "D Miller" <dannyspl at aol.com> > >To: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>; > ><meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> > >Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012 5:40 PM > >Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Moon rocks > > > > > >> Did anyone see the auction on EBay last week for a Moon rock for 4.7 > >> mil. I tried to post here twice. He said he had papers to own I also > >> heard men in suits from NASA may show up at your doorstep if you try > >> to sell them. > >> > >> Sent from T-Mobile G2 with Google > >> > >> "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> wrote: > >> > >>>Hi, Dan, List, > >>> > >>>"Moon Rocks," meaning pieces of the Moon returned > >>>by the space program, are the property of the Nation, > >>>which paid about 25 billion 1970 dollars for them. In > >>>practical terms, they are "owned" by the government > >>>of the United States. No individuals "own" them. But > >>>samples of lunar material are loaned to researchers on > >>>application and justification for the research proposed > >>>and are returned when it is over (unless the testing is > >>>destructive, in which case they must be accounted for). > >>> > >>>"Moon Rocks," in the sense of rocks from the Moon > >>>that were brought to Earth by other means than > >>>government effort, that is, meteorites, can be owned > >>>by anyone willing to pay the price to own them. > >>> > >>> > >>>Sterling K. Webb > >>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>----- Original Message ----- > >>>From: "D Miller" <dannyspl at aol.com> > >>>To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> > >>>Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012 2:18 PM > >>>Subject: [meteorite-list] Moon rocks > >>> > >>> > >>>> Can someone please tell me what the government policy is on > >>>> obtaining > >>>> moon rocks? I understand that only selected individuals related to > >>>> the > >>>> space program are allowed to own them. Dan Miller > >>>> ______________________________________________ > >>>> > >>>> Visit the Archives at > >>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > >>>> Meteorite-list mailing list > >>>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > >>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > >>> > >> ______________________________________________ > >> > >> Visit the Archives at > >> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > >> Meteorite-list mailing list > >> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-listReceived on Sun 15 Apr 2012 11:05:10 AM PDT |
 StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit Yahoo MyWeb
|