The earliest NASA Apollo missions helped answer a lot of questions about the moon, including one that everyone was thinking about: "Does lunar dust hurt cockroaches?" ”
During the Apollo 11 mission, the astronauts brought back 47.5 pounds of lunar rock to be assigned to the scientific community for testing. Rocks over four pounds were used to study life in invertebrates by exposing insects to lunar particles by mixing them with food. For now, only a very small amount of rock remains, including a special cockroach experiment.
Those cockroach carcasses and digested lunar soil are now being sold as part of an auction that will end on June 23. Anyone can bid online. As of Wednesday, the price was $12,100 (£9,670, AU$16,850). Other items in the auction, including the Enigma machine and information associated with fire and lunar dust, are noteworthy, but it is more valuable because it comes from the famous 1969 Apollo 11 mission, which Neil Armstrong obtained when he first set foot on the moon in human history.
The samples are from the collection of Marion Brooks, an entomologist working on the Lunar Dust Project. An article published in the journal Science of Minnesota before 1970 discussed the discovery. Cockroach experiments involve feeding or exposing sterilized and undisereurized moon dust to different insect populations. The experimental group said that it would continue to remain unexplored experimental information.
The lot, offered by New Hampshire RR auction company Amherst, includes not only vials of lunar dust weighing approximately 0.0014 ounces, but also three well-preserved German cockroaches and slides for experiments related to the lunar mission.
In addition, scientists have conducted similar experiments on fish, shrimp, houseflies and oysters.
"None of the animals that died during the Apollo 11 test were harmed in any way by lunar dust," the magazine said. Brooks examined the cockroaches' remains and "found no disease, nor did it find anything that looked a little suspicious." ”
Moon dust
Scientist Brooks was surprised to find that the moon dust did not damage the stomach cells of the bugs, nor did it cause wear or scratches on their bodies. (In other words, strong little strongers will live longer than all of us.) ）
The sample of moon dust represented in this auction has undergone many tests. "Taken from the abdomen of individual Cockroaches in Germany, the material has been transformed from lunar dust into cockroach feces — a rarity unique on the space market," the scientists said.
As of June 1, bids for the auction have exceeded $12,000. Considering that Apollo 11 lunar dust sold for $500,000 in April, RR Auction would like to see the cockroach specimen's bid rise to around $400,000. The auction will run until June 23.