Untouched moon samples from the Apollo missions will be studied for the first time

The pristine samples were kept in storage for a reason. "Returned samples are an investment in the future. These samples were deliberately saved so we can take advantage of today's more advanced and sophisticated technology to answer questions we didn't know we needed to ask," Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said in a statement.

Untouched moon samples from the Apollo missions will be studied for the first time

Apollo 16, April 1972, Vintage gelatin silver print

NASA said today that it would spend $8 million to research Apollo 15, 16 and 17 moon rocks that they have kept preserved. The samples have never been exposed to Earth's atmosphere.

The Apollo 17 sample is in a vacuum-sealed drive tube that was pounded into the moon's surface to get a core sample. Another sample was kept frozen and the final sample was stored in helium.

I guess they are serious about going back to the moon this time since they are breaking out their stash of moon rocks.

Sounds like another tax embezzlement scam.

8 million dollars worth.

...and I'm not trying to dog your post, and thanks for sharing, but this just seems like a joke (the money part)

I can't fathom what 9 mill could go to other than into operating costs and salaries.

a reply to: Mandroid7

NP, I didn't take it like that.

First they have to do a study to figure out the best way to study the rocks without contaminating them.

Then they will have teams of researchers and labs to pay for. They will need the latest high tech labs and equipment.

The rocks are almost 50 years old and are priceless. It is a lot of money (to you and me) but if we are going back to the moon we need to get as much info as possible from these rocks.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Right on. I am very intested in seeing what they can find.

Any idea how deep they could go on the samples?

Any chance of getting below the surface dust?

a reply to: Mandroid7

I think this is the type of drive tube used for the Apollo 17 sample. Pretty sure they got under the dust.





Here is a PDF I found Table of Sample Depths for Apollo 15, 16, and 17 Drill Cores.

Looks like the deepest Apollo 17 sample was just under 300 cm. Not sure this all relates to the sample talked about in the news story.

Maybe Jim will stop by and shed some more light on this.

You know some people are thinking, wow these rocks are the same as the rocks by Area 51

A comet must have hit the earth and put earth rocks on the moon

a reply to: LookingAtMars
" These samples were deliberately saved so we can take advantage of today's more advanced and sophisticated technology to answer questions we didn't know we needed to ask"

Pretty forward out of the box thinking. Technology has certainly advanced to a high degree since the Apollo missions.

Thanks for posting, maybe we will learn something new.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

hysterical.

i do not buy that for one min.

saved the rocks. in storage. but rewrote over the telemetry data. the map of the trip.

its too much. seriously.

so many other advancements in science since then that would warrant breaking out the samples. for science in all..

good job nasa.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Huh, cool.

Looks like the same setup for earth soil samples.

I hope they get to sample the inside of the vacuum containers before opening them, in case there was some outgassing from the rocks.

Looking forward to the results, especially how much the composition is similar to the Earth's crust (which would offer more support to the giant impact theory), and how space weathering worked on it.

a reply to: wildespace

And water content!

Not sure if helium storage gets corrupted by beta decay but you raise a good point about out gassing (although they are in a cryogenic state).

Interesting times!!

a reply to: reeferman

Exactly what do you think the telemetry data (and the only overwrote Apollo 11's) is and what purpose do you think there would be in keeping it, given that they already had all the data they needed from it?

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: Mandroid7

NP, I didn't take it like that.

First they have to do a study to figure out the best way to study the rocks without contaminating them.

Then they will have teams of researchers and labs to pay for. They will need the latest high tech labs and equipment.

The rocks are almost 50 years old and are priceless. It is a lot of money (to you and me) but if we are going back to the moon we need to get as much info as possible from these rocks.

I think those rocks are much than 50 years old. If not...

a reply to: fromtheskydown

Yep, should of said the samples have been in storage for almost 50 years.