[meteorite-list] Re: Visit the Moon and Mars

[E.P. Grondine]

I think Ms. Killgore has the idea.

--- Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net> wrote:

> http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5554116
> 
> Meteorites' value astronomical
> 
> TUCSON, Ariz. -- Marvin Killgore could be described
> as the Indiana Jones of the
> meteorite world.
> 
> 
> In the past 16 years he has traveled the globe in
> pursuit of rare treasures from
> outer space. During that time he has built up one of
> the world's largest
> collections of meteorites, part of which was
> recently on display in Sierra
> Vista.
> 
> And among his specimens was a unique Lunar
> meteorite, worth an astonishing $3.5
> million.
> 
> The moon rock was found in the Western Sahara Desert
> and was the star of the
> Huachuca Mineral and Gem Show last weekend.
> 
> "We value a meteorite based on supply and demand and
> the amount of material
> available," said Killgore, curator of the University
> of Arizona Southwest
> Meteorite Center in Tucson. "Even though there are a
> lot of moon rocks about,
> there is less than a kilo of this material known to
> man. It's worth $10,000 a
> gram."
> 
> The aim of the center, however, is not to find and
> then sell rare and valuable
> meteorites.
> 
> Its purpose is rather to preserve the specimens for
> future research and to
> become a world class meteorite facility for
> scientists, dealers, collectors and
> the general public.
> 
> It is the realization of a dream for Killgore, who
> says the worldwide recovery
> of meteorites is reaching crisis point.
> 
> "We are picking up meteorites at more than a 1,000
> times the rate they are
> falling," he said. "And there was no public
> organization someone could go to
> take their meteorites.
> 
> "So they end up being scattered and broken down for
> jewelry, watch faces, beads,
> earrings and knives."
> 
> Most meteorites are found in arid deserts, where the
> climate is conducive to
> their preservation, but these specimens are usually
> sold to Moroccan traders who
> sell them to the highest bidder.
> 
> Commercial dealers are the only individuals with the
> resources to acquire rare
> meteorites, but the Southwest Meteorite Center is
> currently trying to raise the
> funds to buy such pieces.
> 
> In the entrance to the center, based at the
> Department of Planetary Sciences
> Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, sits a 425-kilo
> meteorite.
> 
> Found in the Gobi Desert in China, the
> extraterrestrial material is worth around
> $8 million, according to Killgore.
> 
> "It's a really gorgeous meteorite. This is 10,000
> times more rare than gold,
> platinum or diamonds," Killgore said.
> 
> His colleague, Dante Lauretta, an associate
> professor and director of the
> center, adds, "A meteorite like this represents the
> core of a planet and gives
> us the chance to look deep inside places we would
> never be able to go."
> 
> In the pockets of his jeans Killgore keeps a nugget
> of gold from Australia,
> worth $4,000, and a small meteorite, the first he
> ever saw.
> 
> They are a fond reminder of the humble beginnings
> that set him off on the path
> to becoming a world renowned meteorite expert.
> 
> "I started as a meteorite hunter," he said. "When I
> moved to Payson in 1981 I
> started a plumbing business, but during the winter
> months I wouldn't really have
> any work because they weren't building new homes. So
> I bought a metal detector
> and started looking for gold nuggets to help pay the
> bills."
> 
> Then one of his buyers told Killgore he should start
> looking for meteorites.
> 
> "He showed me a meteorite and I told him I had found
> them but thrown them away,"
> he said.
> 
> Killgore, who had studied geology and chemistry,
> then became a meteorite dealer,
> but eventually began keeping the better pieces for
> his own collection.
> 
> As he learned more he started to educate others. He
> also observed more and more
> dealers setting up worldwide and became concerned
> about the number of meteorites
> being picked up and sold off.
> 
> "I could see a situation where future generations
> would not be able to see these
> meteorites, unless there was a public organization
> which could buy them,
> preserve them and use them for future research," he
> said.
> 
> The Southwest Meteorite Center opened its doors with
> limited funding a year ago.
> Since then, Killgore and Lauretta have been
> concentrating their efforts on
> outreach programs and raising awareness of the need
> for funds.
> 
> Interested groups are able to tour the facility,
> which also houses a replica of
> the Phoenix probe, due to launch from Cape Kennedy
> in August 2007.
> 
> It is the first time a university has been given the
> management of a space
> craft.
> 
> "People will be able to have their photograph taken
> holding a piece of the moon
> in one hand, and a piece of Mars in the other,"
> Lauretta said.
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