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Space

Piece of the Moon for Sale 168

Posted by CmdrTaco from the thats-an-expensive-piece-of-rock dept.
Symon Gold writes "A desk set purportedly containing a piece of moon rock is up for auction at Lelands.com. Listing here. The New York Times (free registration required) has a story about the piece--a retirement gift given to Joe Healy, an engineer at NASA's Lunar Receiving Laboratory who worked on the Apollo missions and who died a decade ago. The auction runs until 9 p.m. on December 4th with an opening bid of $50,000."
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Piece of the Moon for Sale More

Piece of the Moon for Sale

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  • Gonna go someday (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Cap'nMike ( 631536 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:40PM (#7578750)
    I hope that in a few years the guy who buys this will be kicking himself for wasting money on a rock, instead of saving for a trip to the moon which could be practical in 10 years.
    • If this guy has over 50k to blow on a rock, he will have the money to go to the moon too. I would bet money he is an active supporter of space programs and exploration. We need more people like him.
    • That's silly. The chances of being able to buy a trip to the moon in 10 years are practically zero. The chances of anybody visiting the moon within the next 10 years are slim too.

      People have been talking about space tourism for a very long time but look at what's happened so far. Manned space travel is more or less at a standstill. Certainly there's technological potential for a lot more but it's just not happening.

    • Moon rock? It is obviously fake. None of the green cheese they brought back could possibly still exist today.
  • Why didn't they auction it on eBay? I mean, there are competitors to eBay now?

    OK, I'm joking. But really I do wonder what their reasons were.
  • I think it will be overpriced. I believe the day is comming when we will all be able to take tours of the moon and mars. I believe the space program is most important for all people. What is out there in space? Are we alone? How did the universe form? Are our physics and math in a vacum of how they work on earth, like a lillypop in a lake? These are all valid questions about our exsistance. Sure, let the rich people pave the way by purchasing a novelty or trinket at an expensive price. Hopefully, these kind

  • My Moon Rocks?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by trotski ( 592530 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:43PM (#7578758)
    The american public payed millions of dollars of taxes to send a man to the moon and bring back moon rocks. Therefore, I find it strange and wrong that moon rocks can be in private hands.

    Everybody paid to bring the rocks here, and therefore these rocks should belong to all American people, not to private owners.
    • A few specks of moondust that would otherwise be sitting in a cupboard/safe somewhere.

    • Re:My Moon Rocks?!?! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mraymer ( 516227 )
      I agree. I once read that NASA is very possessive of their lunar samples, and Universities have to really beg, plead, and fill out reams of paperwork to get a few grams worth.

      NASA calls lunar material priceless and so the first thing insurance companies ask them is how much would it cost to replace. So, NASA values it at the cost of sending up another Saturn V.

      This sample should have been donated to scientific research. The fact that it could end up in the hands of a private owner who will do no m

      • In fact only a few percent of the samples brought back from the moon have been studied at all. The rest, many hundreds of pounds, is sitting in NASA vaults. Maybe a few ounces get used for research every year. I would like to hope that by the time a serious dent is made in NASA's existing supply, we'll have a revitalized space program bringing back moon rocks and asteroid rocks by the ton, and the Apollo samples won't be so precious any more. Meanwhile, yeah, I agree with the principle of not taking the

      • The article has an image of the rock. It's hard to judge size in the image, but it's more than a few grams.

        No it isn't. The article also says:

        On top of the base is an epoxy resin scale model of the first moon rock put on display from Apollo 11. Molded into the resin are presumably the tiny fragments and flecks found on the bottom of the Apollo 11 "rock boxes."

        Sounds like it's maybe a few milligrams. That "presumably" also makes it sound like nobody's absolutely sure if there's any moon rock

        • Hey, this is slashdot. You should be happy that I STFI (saw the fucking image). But RTFA? That's beyond most of us. I did notice that right after I posted though. Heh.

          The slashdot summary was a bit misleading, and the true nature of the sample isn't mentioned until half-way down in the article.

          Oh well. Big fuss over nothing, or at most, a very little something.

          • Hey, this is slashdot. You should be happy that I STFI

            True, very true.

            Big fuss over nothing, or at most, a very little something.

            Hey, this is Slashdot :-)

    • Re:My Moon Rocks?!?! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Czernobog ( 588687 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @06:34PM (#7578940) Journal
      The spanish public payed millions of dubloons(?) of taxes to send a man to the Indies and bring back spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks. Therefore, I find it strange and wrong that spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks can be in private hands.

      Everybody paid to bring the spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks here, and therefore these spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks should belong to all Spanish people, not to private owners.

      Nevermind that Isabella ruthlessly stripped the Spaniards of their property at every opportune moment and with every handy excuse and that Colombus was Genoese....

    • But YOU didn't go get them did you? They DO belong to everyone, you can see some almost anytime you want. You can OWN pieces of the moon, lunar meteorites. Plenty available on the market but do your homework to find out who the legit dealers are first.

  • profit.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:44PM (#7578764) Homepage Journal
    1. take some dirt from your backyard.
    2. put it in a fancy glass thingy.
    3. sell it.
    4. PROFIT!!!!!

    this particular piece may be authentic but i'm pretty sure that somebody has done the 1.2.3.4 thing above for moonrocks. i mean, if there's something thats worthless as it is but worth something because it is there are people who will try to cheat out some of that cash going around. i mean at one point there was something like many tons of the cross that jesus carries in bible circulating around collectors, if somebody doesn't go to moon soon enough there will be such a situation in time with moonrocks as well(and probably will be anyways for the "ah but this is from the first mission" rocks).

  • you'll have lots of rocks to sell.
    Can you even imagine a beowulf cluster of...

  • Scientists? (Score:5, Funny)

    by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:49PM (#7578782) Journal
    In September, the United States returned to Honduras a Moon rock that President Richard M. Nixon gave the country in 1973, but that was later stolen and ended up with a dealer in Miami. Last year, three interns at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston stole a safe containing Moon rocks valued at $2.5 million to $7 million. The three pleaded guilty to the theft, and a conspirator, who offered the rocks for sale on the Internet, was convicted at a trial in June.

    Why do break in's always have Nixon's name somewhere in the paragraph?

    • Re:Scientists? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by NortWind ( 575520 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @07:54PM (#7579296)
      That's an interesting story, but you've been given a version with a strange spin on it. The moon rock was given by Nixon, not to the country but to a military dictator the US supported, Gen. Osvaldo Lopez Arellano. That dictator didn't recogize it as being valuable, and gave it to one of his colonels. There it sat, in private hands, until a US business man, Alan Rosen, started snooping around. He eventually found the owner, and bought the rock for $50,000. He was pretty surprised to find out when he took the rock in to be viewed by a potential buyer that it was to be confiscated. You can read about it in some detail here [miami.com] and here [collectspace.com].
    • "Why do break in's always have Nixon's name somewhere in the paragraph?"

      Well I... uh... certainly wouldn't harm the child...

      I'm meeting you half way, you damn hippies!

  • $50,000?? (Score:3, Funny)

    by edubarr ( 723926 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:49PM (#7578783)
    This makes the moon rock the most expensive paper weight ever!

  • Watch out! (Score:3, Troll)

    by JediTrainer ( 314273 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:54PM (#7578804)
    They better have been careful not to have taken that piece off of my [lunarembassy.com] land. I've got mineral rights, you know.

  • I'll be impressed (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pingular ( 670773 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:55PM (#7578806)
    if you can sell me some jupiter rock.

  • Waste Of Money (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 27, 2003 @05:59PM (#7578816)

    I predict that within 10 years Wal-Mart will carry moon rocks imported from the Chinese, who will have a mine on the moon by then and bring rock back by the ton. Get ready for "pet moon rocks" and "moon mood rings" on the shopping channel too.

    • Re:Waste Of Money (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Modded funny? This is true. Though in China itself they'll probably be sold in apothecaries as an aphrodisiac. "Forget Viagra, nothing work better than real moon dust".
  • HA! I can beat that offer, on E-bay I'm selling 1-acre lots on the moon starting at $20,000. Perfect for your next home building project. Building your next home on the moon has many perks: 1. No Pollution - at least not yet 2. No pollen - great for people with allergies 3. Spectacular views of the planet Earth with ocean front views. Mission to the moon, taxes, rocket fuel, and NASA clearence fee, building permit, and contractors to build you house, sold seperatly. Buy now and get 1000 free hours of AO
    • Building your next home on the moon has many perks:
      1. No Pollution - at least not yet
      That extra sunlight that we humans are accustomed to not really getting may be a bitch... mmm... cosmically irradiated french fries...

      2. No pollen - great for people with allergies
      Lots and Lots of dust... bad for people with allergies.

      3. Spectacular views of the planet Earth with ocean front views.
      Too late... I've already sold all the available land on the bright side of the moon... you get the dark side...
      • That extra sunlight that we humans are accustomed to not really getting may be a bitch... mmm... cosmically irradiated french fries...

        That's freedom fries, you insensitive clod! Or have you forgotten how the French refused to help fight the evil Soup Dragon in the moon wars of 2054?

  • I know someone (an astrophysicist) who has diamonds from outside the solar system (the result of dissolving a piece of meteorite)... Doesn't look like much though (they're so small it's just dust, stored in a liquid).
    I wonder if it could also reach such high prices. (When I looked at it I didn't think it could be worth anything, if only because there's no way you can tell it's from there)

  • It's all about the brand (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sssmashy ( 612587 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @06:05PM (#7578832)

    DeBeers claims that a "natural" diamond is worth much, much more than a visually indistinguishable and chemically identical diamond made in the lab last Tuesday. It is priceless simply because it came from deep inside the earth, formed by intense heat and pressure over millions of years.

    Similarly, a few tiny chunks of the moon are worth $50,000 while a chemically identical chunk of rock from Colorado (olivine, with traces of ilmenite and iron oxides) is basically worthless (maybe $5/ton if you bought itin bulk).It's all about the brand, baby. Symbolism sells.

    • At least nobody was murdered and no revolutions occurred to get the moon rock.
      • No one was murdered, no. (At least, not that I know of.)

        People did die, however. I'm not about to forget the loss of life involved in space exploration just because it's neat. I still think it's worth it; I would probably still think it was worth it even if my own boy grew up to be an astronaut and died because of it.

    • Re:It's all about the brand (Score:5, Insightful)

      by S.Lemmon ( 147743 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @06:25PM (#7578909) Homepage
      not really. First anyone can buy a natural diamond so they're hardly "priceless", and second DeBeers has artificially inflated the prices for years with their monopoly over the supply (diamonds are actually not nearly as rare as they'd like people to believe).

      Don't be fooled - DeBeers is scared sh*tless by the idea that jewel quality diamonds can now be manufactured! They look at artificial diamonds in much the same way Microsoft looks at Linux. At first despairingly, and then - as the threat becomes harder to ignore - with a massive FUD campaign aimed at convincing people artificial diamonds are somehow inferior.
    • DeBeers claims that a "natural" diamond is worth much, much more than a visually indistinguishable and chemically identical diamond made in the lab last Tuesday.

      And the RIAA claims that it's worth paying for the shite that they call music. Bullshit is bullshit even when it's called marketing.

    • Ummm, they're 'priceless' because DeBeers controls the prices at which they're sold. There are no market forces at work, just DeBeers saying 'That's the price, take it or leave it.'

  • If this stuff's worth so much (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why not fly the shuttle to the moon and fill her up?

    It's well capable and has the necessary landing ability.

    They could bring back 20 tons of paydirt and solve the national debt!!
    • Supply and demand. Big supply, low demand. Low supply, big demand. Low demand, low price. High demand, high price.

      See the thread involving DeBeers and artificially created diamond shortages.

      The US might do better to auction off a few small pieces to the highest bidders, if they were going to go that route for fundraising.

  • I hope Major Nelson [tvtome.com] got one too.

  • Mmm, rock (Score:4, Funny)

    by BabyDave ( 575083 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @06:16PM (#7578875)

    Does it have "The Moon" written all the way through?

    • Does it have "The Moon" written all the way through?

      No, but it's a real find if the piece of moon rock has part of "Chairface Chippendale" etched into it.

      • At best, it could only be part of the 'h' or part of the 'a'. As we all know, The Tick prevented Chairface from completing the writing, and later went to the moon to fill the "C" hole, leaving the word "HA" in clear view from Earth.
    • Does it have "The Moon" written all the way through?

      No, nor is it peppermint fresh. But it does have 'property of Lucasfilm props dept' written on the bottom.

  • I presume, and so can you... (Score:5, Funny)

    by baileytal ( 692920 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @06:22PM (#7578897) Homepage
    From the description at the auction site:
    Molded into the [moon-rock shaped blob of] resin are presumably the tiny fragments and flecks found on the bottom of the Apollo 11 "rock boxes."
    Yeah, $50k USD for a blob of resin with some "presumable" tiny fragments of moon rock.

    To be fair, I think it would be fair to pay with 50 "presumable" $1000 bills encased in a big blob of resin shaped like a sucker.

  • Who needs rocks.. I want my own mooninite ATHF [adultswim.com] They can jump WAY higher then us, smoke when they shoot the bird.... and have the powerful QUAD-LASER... much cooler than some stupid rocks.
  • as long as they dont sell pieces of ur-anus .. cus i would not want any of tht on my desk

  • Google NYT (Score:2, Informative)

    by Coneasfast ( 690509 )
    For those who do not want to register for NYT

    Here ya go [nytimes.com]

  • "the thats-an-expensive-piece-of-rock dept." ?!? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Art Tatum ( 6890 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @06:52PM (#7579033)
    I'm disappointed in you, Taco. How could you miss an opportunity to run "the own-a-piece-of-the-rock dept."?

  • Sell quick before the market falls... (Score:3, Funny)

    by yiantsbro ( 550957 ) on Thursday November 27, 2003 @07:15PM (#7579108)
    So, sell now before the Chinese bring the stuff back in bulk and kill the market.
  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading where PRIVATE ownership of Moon rocks was Illegial? Searching Google, I can't find an exact statue to cite, just a bunch of references stating its illegial for me as a private citizen of the US to own a moon rock?? no wonder I never got that one I wanted for christmas :(
  • Whats the point of buying a small chunk of the moon if you cant visit it? If you buy the land, then you will have to be trained as an astronaut and then you will have to travel the distance to get there. This costs extra money in itself.
  • begin Indiana Jones mode "It belongs in a museum" end Indinana Jones mode

  • Old News... (Score:3, Funny)

    by windside ( 112784 ) <pmjboyle@@@gmail...com> on Thursday November 27, 2003 @10:27PM (#7579904)

    Man, three years ago I bought my Dad an acre of land on Io from a booth at the mall around Christmastime. It only cost me 10 bucks and it even came with a deed, although the guy printed that on-site with a shitty bubble jet.

    Either way, he was also selling pieces of the moon, but owning land on our moon is like owning a cabin in Aspen - it may have been cool 30 years ago, but not anymore. Jupiter's moons are the next big thing, man.

    [hmm... that post started and ended with "man"... maybe i need to get out more...]

  • 50 grands opening bid and I couldn't even get 50$ for my Piece of Earth auction? BAH!
  • Set the wayback machine for 25 years ago or so. I remember some guy came to our elementary school and showed us moon rocks. I was impressed.

    I mean, those rocks came from the freekin moon!

    Good luck to the winner of that auction.
  • "This desk set wants to fly!" Oh hang on, part of it already has.
  • Its an EPOXY 'rock'. With maybe/possibly/probably not moon rock flecks in it from the mold! What a misleading story.

    There are pieces of Apollo 11 & 12 on the front of the base though, thats kind of cool.

  • You can legally buy rocks from the moon for a buttload cheaper than $50,000 woven into plastic. Some meteorites that were collected after landing on Earth were found to have come from the moon. When a large object hits the moon, moon rocks are thrown into space and some of them land back on the Earth. This trick works for Mars, too. Here's a little piece of moon rock for under $1000 [islandmeteorite.com], for instance.

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