If someone pays for a rock by investing the time to search and recover it, be it on the Moon or Earth, it belongs to them. The have earned their reward. That is capitalism, the basis of American society.
In a free nation their value is whatever one is willing to pay for them, and who ever is willing to pay the most earns them. And if they just want it to sit on a shelf that is their right as the owner.
The State taking that rock for the “noble cause” of science is just plain socialism. If they are they are so valuable to science then scientists should be willing to put in the effort to raise the funds to buy them, not preach socialism as a cover to steal them from those that earned them the hard way by spending their time, money and effort to locate them.
And if that is how scientists feel about a commerical lunar return mission I see even less reason to donate any lunar samples to them. Let them wait until NASA gets around to providing new ones.
Space/Science » in reply to Some things are too important for private ownership
re: Some things are too important for private ownership
The whole thread (23 posts)
- Space rocks go under the hammer
- Have these meteorites been properly studied?
- re: Have these meteorites been properly studied?
- re: Have these meteorites been properly studied?
- Some things are too important for private ownership
- re: Some things are too important for private ownership
- I take it the word Socialism is supposed to frighten me off?
- re: Some things are too important for private ownership
- Some things are too important for private ownership
- Robert Haag
- Have these meteorites been properly studied?