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3 Ton Meteorite Stolen

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-in-frat-boys-basement dept.

morpheus83 writes "Russian news agency Interfax is reporting that thieves have stolen a three-ton meteorite from the yard of the Tunguska Space Event foundation, whose director said it was the part of meteor that caused a massive explosion in Siberia in 1908. The massive three tonne rock was bought to Krasnoyarsk after an 2004 expedition to the site of the so-called Tunguska event- a mysterious mid air explosion over Siberia in 1908 was 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The foundation's director Yury Lavbin claimed to have discovered the wreckage of an alien spacecraft during the expedition."

4 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. How? by lanceleader · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How could someone steal a 3 tonne meteorite? I don't really see how the theft happened unnoticed.

  2. The problem is by Bryan+Bytehead · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the whole thing is fake.

    They haven't recovered anything from that blast, let alone a 3 ton meteorite.

    --
    Bryan
  3. Why you chain up your $500Million lawn ornament by veranikon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Despite prevailing suspicions that a group of mutant little girls whizzed off with the rock to build their Help-the-Town-and-Make-It-a-Better-Place machine, don't forget that meteorite rock is pretty scarce, and can fetch a pretty penny/ounce.

    Martian Meteorites have sold for $85k/ounce, and this source claims $3600/troy ounce for more garden variety space rocks. This is more valuable than gold, platinum, maybe comparable to Rhodium.

    So, (3tonnes = 128,602.986troy ounces)*$3600/ounce = $467 Million, just sitting around in your backyard. No chain, or Kryptonite lock, or even post-it note saying "please don't steal." Just asking for trouble from the neighbor kids, they were.

  4. Because it would not have been a very wise idea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    > If they were able to bring a 3-ton meteorite out of the tundra
    > to the foundation headquarters, why couldn't they have managed
    > to bring back even a scrap of the supposed alien wreckage?

    Because it would not have been a very wise idea?

    You need to read up on the literature:

    http://www.shnaresys.com/roadside/picnic/parallel. htm

    or at least watch the film:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(film)