Conglomerate Rock From Mars: (Much) More Precious Than Gold 65
An anonymous reader writes It's the oldest rock on Earth--and it's from Mars. A 4.4-billion-year-old martian meteorite, found in a dozen pieces in the western Sahara, has ignited a frenzy among collectors and scientists; prices have reached $10,000 a gram, and museums and universities are vying for slivers of it. It is the only known martian meteorite made of sediment, a conglomerate of pebbles and other clumps of minerals from when the planet was warm, wet, and possibly habitable. The story of the discovery of the rock and its significance is fascinating, as well as the details presented about the economics of rare space materials. Apropos, this older story about missing moon rocks.
Up next, tulip bulbs from Mars (Score:5, Funny)
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obligatory (Score:2)
So it's the Johnson & Johnson rock?
Go get more? (Score:2)
The price is still far from the cost of going to Mars to dig some sedimentary rocks from a few meters deep. But it's getting closer.
Re:Go get more? (Score:4, Interesting)
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If the round trip gets $100k/gram, I don't think anyone but the buyer cares if they're bringing rocks, meteorites or rubber ducks.
Give the technology to De Beers and we'll have brides carrying pieces of mars in a year.
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Mod this hummer up...
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I read the article. The rock didn't leave Mars 4.4 billion years ago.
"It began its journey to Earth more than 5 million years ago, about the time humans and chimpanzees were splitting from a common ancestor. That is when an asteroid struck Mars, catapulting the rock into space. "
5 million years is still a long time but is really a drop in the bucket and I doubt the rocks would have changed much.
Re: Go get more? (Score:2)
My understanding is that Mars is not tectonically active, so there might be a lot of 4.4 billion year old rocks just below the surface.
Hmm (Score:1)
I haven't read how they know it's from Mars, just how exactly do they know?
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I haven't read how they know it's from Mars, just how exactly do they know?
Luckily I RTFA. Isotope ratios is the main way. e.g. deuterium in water in the rock.
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They compare the isotopic ratios in the rock with those observed by our various landers and crawlers on Mars.
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Well, given we know the isotope ratios for at least these two planets in the solar system, it seems we do not have to assume.
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It was inside a black wrapper with "MARS" written on it in red letters.
The key clue here is the red of the letters, which prove the authenticity.
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"I haven't read how they know it's from Mars, just how exactly do they know?"
When they turned it over, there was a little sticker that said "Made on Mars".
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And of course, the Russians didn't expose the hoax because they were in on it: Sputnik was just as fake as the so-called "satellites" of today.
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Revelation 6:13
And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
Meh, doesn't seem too problematic.
Unless you know of any figs that weight 10^30kg and burn at 50K, that is.
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It's either really fricking cold figs, or Slashdot erasing the [degrees] symbol.
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It's time to come clean.
We were all in on it except for MagickalMyst.
Should we send one of the Rosswell IFO's to pick him up and take him to emperor Elvis for briefing?
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Hey, where did my jelly beans go?
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Whilst the upper echelons of society compete with each other, they co-operate when it comes to herding the masses.
They are the dark magicians who rule the world by deceit and trickery - and have for aeons.
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There is zero chance the landings were faked. Heck, the landing sites and rover tracks have been photographed from moon orbit, but this is just part of the mountain of evidence that the moon landings were real.
I wish that Buzz Armstrong would punch out all the British loonies that are pushing the moon hoax baloney
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"However, if your belief is that the Apollo moon landings were legitimate, then please explain to me how the astronauts got through the Van Allen belt?"
Uh, really simple. It's just an electro-magnetic field that has protons and electrons. We go through stronger magnetic fields getting an MRI done.
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Your first point is pure speculation.
Your second point is answered plainly on wikipedia:
"The Apollo missions marked the first event where humans traveled through the Van Allen belts, which was one of several radiation hazards known by mission planners.[28] The astronauts had low exposure in the Van Allen belts due to the short period of time spent flying through them.[29] The command module's inner structure was an aluminum "sandwich" consisting of a welded aluminium inner skin, a thermally bonded honeycomb
Martian? (Score:1)
I have never understood why they can be convinced that a random rock they find in the desert is actually from Mars. Sure, you can tell if something is a meteorite and you might be able to posit trajectories,but it's not like Marvin the Martian stood next to the rock to vouch for its authenticity.
Yes, there's a non-zero probability of the asteroid-hits-Mars-and-ejectum-lands-on-Earth scenario, and the rocks may have properties consistent with conditions measured by the Viking lander, but it is magical think
Re:Martian? (Score:4, Insightful)
I have never understood why they can be convinced that a random rock they find in the desert is actually from Mars.
So, do some readingon the topic, and then you will understand. In the meantime, your lack of understanding doesn't change the fact that they can do this.
but it is magical thinking to hold that such a rock definitely came from Mars.
No, it's magical thinking to assume that science must be wrong because you know less than science does.
Given the science used, it would probably require magical thinking to hold that such a rock did not come from Mars.
Waiting for the market to tank (Score:2)
I'll just wait for the Mars Sample Return Project [nasa.gov] to saturate the market, thereby lowering the price.
Conglomerate rock (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, you mean like Nickelback?
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Something Doesn't Make Sense (Score:2)
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Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but something doesn't make sense. The rock is 4.4 billion years old, but is the oldest rock on earth? The rocks it impacted must thus have been older than that, or else it would have just been absorbed into the molten ball that was the earth. Also the article says it began its journey 5 billion years ago - so before it existed?
Never mind - I'm dumb. It only hit the earth ~1000 yrs ago. Still doesn't explain the 5 by vs 4.4 by difference.
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The article says it left Mars 5 million years ago, which I think clears up both of your confusions.
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$10000/gram is about... (Score:2)
- 2.5 times more expensive that weapon grade plutonium
- twice cheaper than Soliris (medical drug)
- 3 times cheaper than tritium
LSD and diamonds can also be in this price range but this is a bit more complicated to estimate.
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and about 5 times cheaper than printer ink.