Latest Moon rock Stories

HOUSTON, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and co-researchers from the United States, South Korea and Japan have found a new mineral named "Wassonite" in one of the most historically significant meteorites recovered in Antarctica in December 1969. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The new mineral was discovered within the meteorite officially designated Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite. The meteorite was discovered the same year as other landmark...

NASA and co-researchers from the United States, South Korea and Japan have found a new mineral named "Wassonite" in one of the most historically significant meteorites recovered in Antarctica in December 1969.The new mineral was discovered within the meteorite officially designated Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite. The meteorite was discovered the same year as other landmark meteorites Allende and Murchison and the return of the first Apollo lunar samples. The study of meteorites...

Moon rocks, excavated from the Moon via six Apollo missions and three unmanned Soviet missions more than 30 years ago, are the subject of a far-reaching black market for the precious stones, which have been tracked down -- with some success -- by a former NASA investigator. Joseph Gutheinz Jr., the former NASA investigator, has been tracking the lunar larceny for the past decade. In a March feature: "A Memoir: A Decade-Plus of Tracking Lunar Larceny," he recalls some of the most famous thefts...

NASA and Gowalla, a mobile and web service, have partnered to bring users one small step closer to the universe. The partnership populates Gowalla with NASA-related information and four virtual items -- moon rocks, a NASA patch, a spacesuit and a space shuttle -- that can be found at agency-related venues."NASA's partnership with Gowalla is a creative way for us to reach out and share information about what the nation's space agency is doing," said Bob Jacobs, NASA's deputy...

A new study by NASA-funded scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory finds that the interior of the moon may hold 100 times more water than previously believed.The scientists analyzed samples of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts nearly four decades ago, and found that the volume of water molecules inside minerals in the moon's interior could exceed that of the entire U.S. Great Lakes.  The researchers concluded that the water was likely preserved from magma...

WASHINGTON, June 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA-funded scientists estimate from recent research that the volume of water molecules locked inside minerals in the moon's interior could exceed the amount of water in the Great Lakes here on Earth. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, along with other scientists across the nation, determined that the water was likely present very early in...

HOUSTON, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Arizonans will have the rare chance to touch a piece of a moon rock at the Maricopa County Home Show in Phoenix at NASA's Driven to Explore traveling exhibit. Driven to Explore offers a look at America's program to return humans to the moon and travel beyond. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The exhibit will be at the home show on Friday, Jan. 15 and Saturday, Jan. 16 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. MST. It will be open on...

HOUSTON Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA researchers are among the participants who will present papers at the annual meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Nov. 16-19 at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The workshop brings together academic, governmental and private sector interests to focus on the sustainability theme of the LEAG-coordinated Lunar Exploration Roadmap. The program consists of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, NASA honored President John F. Kennedy with an Ambassador of Exploration Award for his vision and leadership in landing a man on the moon. The Kennedy family has selected Rice University to house and publicly display the award, a lunar sample, at Fondren Library. Kennedy called for a national initiative to go to the moon during a speech given at Rice University on Sept. 12, 1962.(Logo:...

Last month, officials with the Netherlands' national museum reported that it had been holding a piece of petrified wood, which had been mistaken for a piece of rubble from the surface of the moon.The announcement sparked an investigation, being led by the Associated Press, to recover the whereabouts of about 270 moon rocks.The rocks were collected by US astronauts and distributed to other countries as international gifts from the Nixon administration. But since then, many of the rare stones...