Moon rock

Moon rock is rock that originated on the Moon ( Earth's moon ). The term is also used for other materials that have been collected during the sensing of the moon.

Origin

Currently, there are three sources of Moon rocks on Earth:

During the six Apollo excursions 2415 samples were collected with a total weight of 382 kg, most of it by Apollo 15, 16 and 17 The three Luna probes brought back another 326 g of material. More than 90 lunar meteorites found on Earth until 2006, a total of more than 30 kg of material.

In the Apollo program moon rock was collected with a variety of tools, including hammers, rakes, shovels, clippers and augers. Most of these pieces were photographed prior to collection to record its condition as found. They were packed in bags and then in a special container (Special Environmental Sample Container ) kept on the return flight to Earth to protect them from contamination.

A little moon dust was allegedly also collected from a Hasselblad employee who cleaned the cameras used by the astronauts on the Apollo missions.

Properties

Overall, the data collected on the moon rocks are very old compared to rocks found on earth, as could be detected by means of radiometric dating methods. Even the youngest is older than all occurring on Earth rocks. The age range extends from 3.2 billion years for the basalt samples from the Mary up to 4.6 billion years ago in the Terrae, they therefore represent samples from a very early period of the solar system dar.

The rocks have characteristics that are the rocks on the ground very similar, especially as regards the content of oxygen isotopes. However, one finds very little iron in the lunar rocks, and they are also low in volatile elements such as potassium and sodium, water is completely missing.

The moon rocks three new minerals were found: Armalcolit, Tranquillityit and Pyroxferroit.

The age determination of about 50 molten rock samples of the Apollo program from 1969 to 1972 showed strong evidence of an accumulation of large impacts before 4 to 3.8 billion years ( " Large bombing " ), emerged as a result of which most lunar seas.

Value

Moon rock that was collected during the exploration of the Moon, is currently considered priceless. In 1993, three small fragments from Luna 16 brought, which weighed 0.2 g, sold for $ 442,500. In 2002, a safe from the Lunar Sample Building was stolen, the tiny pieces contained material from the Moon and Mars. These pieces were rediscovered and appreciated in 2003 by NASA for the trial to a value of $ 1 million for 285 g of material. Moon rock in the form of meteorites is often sold under private collectors and exchanged, but also at high prices.

Storage

The Hauptaufbewahrungsort the Apollo moon rocks is the Lunar Sample Building at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. According to the NASA almost 295 kg of initial 382 kg of samples are kept still untouched there. For security reasons, a smaller collection at the Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas is kept. Most stones are kept in nitrogen in order to protect them from moisture. You will be touched only indirectly with special tools.

After the last Apollo mission (Apollo 17) small moon rock samples were poured into acrylic glass. Together with the respective national flag, which was brought back by the Apollo astronauts to the moon and back, these were given away as "Goodwill Moon Rock" specimens taken at 135 different nations. At least one of these pieces was later stolen, sold and found again. Some small pieces were on base and given to former astronauts and other deserving individuals. Other samples were given to selected museums, including the National Air and Space Museum, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, and the visitor center at the Kennedy Space Center. There it is possible to " touch a piece of moon ", but it is in fact a small piece of moon rock that is cemented into a pillar, which is in the middle of an accessible for visitors vault.

In Europe, moon rock was first issued in 1970 at the training center of the observatory Neander height Hochdahl. Today, moon rocks is the German Technology Museum in Berlin ( 333 g, Apollo 17), in the House of History in Bonn (282 g, Apollo 12 ), in the Ries Crater Museum in Nördlingen (163 g, of Apollo 16 ) and in the German Museum in Munich issued. In Austria, a piece of moon rock in meteorites hall of the Natural History Museum in Vienna can be seen. In the latter two samples is the above-mentioned "Goodwill Moon Rocks " from Germany and Austria. Furthermore, a 160g heavy, Apollo 15 is collected sample in the exhibition space of the office is for Outer Space Affairs of the United Nations in Vienna to see.

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