Woman nabbed over $1.6m moon rock offer that was out of this world
60 replies, posted
[quote]She promised the moon, for a sky-high price. He wasn't buying.
A woman who tried to sell what she said was a rare piece of moon rock for $US1.7 million ($1.6m) was detained when her would-be buyer turned out to be an undercover NASA agent, officials said.
The gray rocks, which are considered national treasures and are illegal to sell, were given to each US state and 136 countries by then-President Richard Nixon after US moon missions and can sell for millions of dollars on the black market.
[img]http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/23/2378729/lead_museum-420x0.jpg[/img]
[i]A piece of moon rock on display at the Powerhouse Museum. Photo: Sahlan Hayes[/i]
NASA investigators and Riverside County sheriff's deputies detained the woman after she met with an undercover NASA investigator at a restaurant in Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (110 kilometres) southeast of Los Angeles, the sheriff's office said. The investigation was conducted over several months.
Authorities swooped after the two agreed on a price and the woman, whose name has not been released, pulled out the rock.
NASA planned to conduct tests to determine whether the rock came from the moon as the woman claimed.
"We don't know if it's lunar material," said Gail Robinson, deputy inspector general at the space agency.
Joseph Gutheinz, a University of Phoenix instructor and former NASA investigator who has spent years tracking down missing moon rocks, said a lunar curator at a special lab at Johnson Space Center would carry out the testing. Among the substances the rock could contain is armalcolite, a mineral first discovered on the moon and named for Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, who was on the Apollo 11 lunar mission crew.
The woman has not been arrested or charged. It was unknown how she obtained the rock or came to the attention of NASA.
Gutheinz said the woman could face theft charges if the rock is genuine, or fraud charges if it is not.
About 2200 samples of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust — weighing about 840 pounds (380 kilograms) — were brought to Earth by NASA's Apollo lunar landing missions from 1969 to 1972. A recent count showed 10 states and more than 90 countries could not account for their shares of the gray rocks.
Gutheinz said most purported moon rocks offered for sale on the internet are bogus, though authentic moon rocks can be purchased if they came to Earth in a meteorite.
NASA houses 70 per cent of its lunar rock and soil samples at Johnson Space Center, and another 14 per cent are in New Mexico. The rest are either on loan for study or display — or are unaccounted for.
In 2009, the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands confirmed that one of its rocks was a fake and not an artifact collected by the Apollo 11 crew.
A rock presented to Honduras was recovered in a 1998 NASA sting after a Miami collector offered $US5 million for it
Read more: [url]http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/woman-nabbed-over-16m-moon-rock-offer-that-was-out-of-this-world-20110523-1ezfe.html#ixzz1NDK1R0mI[/url][/quote]
[url=http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/woman-nabbed-over-16m-moon-rock-offer-that-was-out-of-this-world-20110523-1ezfe.html#ixzz1N9UHlxwj]SOURCE[/url]
*insert Portal 2 refrence here*
[quote]an undercover NASA agent[/quote]
What. NASA has undercover agents?
NASA undercover agent, heh.
Also I find it a bit BS that if you were to find a moon rock you'd not be allowed to keep or sell it. How can you call something that isn't even earthly a [I]national[/I] treasure?
moon rocks, serious business
didn't know there was a market for illegal moon rocks
This is rather late I remember reading this a week or so ago.
My grandparents gave me a supposed moon rock years ago, and it looks awesome.
Shame it probably isn't real after reading this.
[QUOTE=privatesmily;30011099]didn't know there was a market for illegal moon rocks[/QUOTE]
"[i]Hey buddy, wanna buy a Moon Rock?[/i]"
[QUOTE=Kendra;30011082]NASA undercover agent, heh.
Also I find it a bit BS that if you were to find a moon rock you'd not be allowed to keep or sell it. How can you call something that isn't even earthly a [I]national[/I] treasure?[/QUOTE]
I think the problem is these are moon rock's from the US flights that were handed out to all the good little nations. You don't just find moon rock's every day, so it's a reasonable thing to check up on.
Nobody's owns the moon though, so if you went and got your own moon rock it would be legal. I think.
that's more expensive than a crack rock
and at least you can smoke a crack rock
[QUOTE=thisispain;30011264]that's more expensive than a crack rock
and at least you can smoke a crack rock[/QUOTE]
good point, we should make crack on the moon then sell it as moon crack
what if you smoke the moon rock?
[QUOTE=thisispain;30011264]that's more expensive than a crack rock
and at least you can smoke a crack rock[/QUOTE]
according to cave johnson you can snort moon dust
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmH7tAJ0SfA[/media]
9:10
It's too bad that regular people can't own cool shit like this, the government will take it away. It's like if you own land, and you find something such as gold or silver, it's illegal to keep it. You have to give it to the government and you only keep 10% of the profit
[QUOTE=Glitch360;30011591]It's too bad that regular people can't own cool shit like this, the government will take it away.[B] It's like if you own land, and you find something such as gold or silver, it's illegal to keep it. You have to give it to the government and you only keep 10% of the profit[/B][/QUOTE]
???
Pretty sure you have mineral rights when you buy the land
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;30011855]???
Pretty sure you have mineral rights when you buy the land[/QUOTE]Nope, not here at least. It might be because the land I took the example from, is owned by the church I go to.
[QUOTE=Glitch360;30011943]Nope, not here at least. It might be because the land I took the example from, is owned by the church I go to.[/QUOTE]
That shouldn't make any difference. Where do you live?
[QUOTE=lunarwalrus;30011069]What. NASA has undercover agents?[/QUOTE]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1tc493bZM[/media]
[QUOTE=Glitch360;30011943]Nope, not here at least. It might be because the land I took the example from, is owned by the church I go to.[/QUOTE]
well it gets complicated when they aren't going to do anything with it, when there's something of value there
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;30012003]That shouldn't make any difference. Where do you live?[/QUOTE]Colorado. The land is in the mountains
In 1973, there was a massive fire at the Alaska Transportation Museum where the moon rocks were being housed. Coleman Anderson (a crab fishing captain who was on the TV show, Deadliest Catch) went to the museum to scrounge through the garbage from the fire to see if there would be anything worth saving. Coleman was a kid at the time. He found the moon rocks, cleaned them up over the next few years and he still has them. To clear title to the rocks he filed a lawsuit against the State of Alaska, asking the Court to deem the rocks his sole property.
You can get in trouble for fraud for selling a fraudulent item.. on the black market?
[QUOTE=AzzyMaster;30011057]*insert Portal 2 refrence here*[/QUOTE]
The Lab boys told me we can't afford to buy 70 dollars worth of moon rock, much less 70 million. Bought it anyways. Ground it up, mixed into a gel!
[QUOTE=Kendra;30011082]NASA undercover agent, heh.
Also I find it a bit BS that if you were to find a moon rock you'd not be allowed to keep or sell it. How can you call something that isn't even earthly a [I]national[/I] treasure?[/QUOTE]
Maybe because they were the ones bringing it back from there?
I'm pretty sure if you manage to go to the moon and come back, you can sell whatever junk you find there for however much you want as long as you can prove it was you who brought it from there.
[QUOTE=DrKoeniginator;30011178]"[i]Hey buddy, wanna buy a Moon Rock?[/i]"[/QUOTE]
[img]http://cache.thephoenix.com/secure/uploadedImages/The_Phoenix/News/News_Stories/mooninites(4).jpg[/img]
Can anyone clarify for me WHY it is illegal to sell moon rocks? I can't see a reason why that would be illegal...
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;30011855]???
Pretty sure you have mineral rights when you buy the land[/QUOTE]
In most countries you actually aren't purchasing the land, you are renting it.
[quote]70 per cent of its lunar rock and soil samples at [b]Johnson[/b] Space Center[/quote]
Hahaha.
She must've been a lunatic for trying to push those out-of-this-world rocks.
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