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Moon Dust Back In NASA's Hands

Posted by timothy on from the my-precioussss dept.

gabbo529 writes with this excerpt: "It's only a speck but some moon dust from the original Apollo 11 mission is back in NASA's hands. The speck of moon dust was only one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) wide and was attached to a transparent piece of tape. To an auction house in St. Louis it was worth between $1,000 and $1,500. However, NASA got wind of the dust and was able to get it back."

8 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Re:$1000? by stonedcat · · Score: 2

    At the current exchange rate, you'd end up paying them to take it. :p

    --
    You can't take the sky from me.
  2. Moonstone rush? by whiteboy86 · · Score: 4, Funny

    1 gram of Moonstone is worth $1000 ?! So... 1 kg is therefore worth $1M ??!!! How expensive is a space rocket and other things needed for aggresive Moon mining ?
    /s

    1. Re:Moonstone rush? by malkavian · · Score: 2

      Look around you, every day...

    2. Re:Moonstone rush? by cyn1c77 · · Score: 2

      1 gram of Moonstone is worth $1000 ?! So... 1 kg is therefore worth $1M ??!!! How expensive is a space rocket and other things needed for aggresive Moon mining ? /s

      You need to spend some time reading the space technology news.

      It turns out that getting into space is quite expensive. And getting stuff back from space is too.

      In 2003, Russia was charging ~$20M for a person to stay on the ISS for 10 days. Getting back to the moon would involve redeveloping the technology and traveling further. So it might cost around $100M, but it would take billions of dollars to develop and proof the technology.

      Also, once you brought back a ton of moon rocks to sell on the open market, their price would plummet due to availability. So traveling to the moon solely to sell moon rocks is not really a profitable venture.

  3. NASA owns all the moon dust. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    There are no offenses and selling the speck would not have been illegal. Still, NASA wanted it back, since it is the space agency's possession. It was acquired by Regency-Superior from a woman who inherited from her late husband. Her late husband had acquired it in good faith.

    So even if you acquire in good faith some legally distributed moon dust, it is still NASA's possession? Does this make any sense to anyone? It's almost like they're trying to prevent unauthorized research. ALL THE TOYS ARE MINE. It's like shaking a ditch digger down for some dirt that fell in to his cuffs while he was installing your sewage line.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Car analogy by mangu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it would not be illegal to resell the scrap of rock in question. Therefore it is not stolen

    Just like if I buy a stolen Porsche at the local chop shop it becomes mine and I can sell it?

    It is not a crime to resell something you bought in good faith, but that does not mean it becomes the legal property of the buyer. It still belongs to the original owner and it's up to those who bought it in good faith to try to recover from the thief whatever they paid for it.

  5. Re:Taxes ARE a bad thing by nhstar · · Score: 2

    Taxes, when spent appropriately and for a good goal are not a bad thing. And no, I don't mean in the "let's cure the world from stupidity" way.

    And, as just one small part of what that background science didn't help with, think on that the next time you use your microwave to reheat leftovers, or your GPS gear without having to pay subscription rates for the satelite signal...

    just sayin'

    --
    --- no sig to see here... move along.
  6. Re:Wait by will_die · · Score: 2

    The first thing to do is learn the definition of "lie", then learn who said what.