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MORE ON MOON ROCKS: This HoustonChronicle.com account of the thefts gives some interesting numbers.

The theives were asking $2000-$8000 per gram for the five ounces of lunar material and five ounces of meteorite fragments (which included parts of the Allen Hills “Mars fossil” meteorite, it turns out). For argument’s sake, call it $6000 per gram, which (if I have my units right) translates into $2,723,401.00 per pound.

During Apollo a total of 842 pounds of soil and rock were returned from the Moon.

Assuming that the sudden increase in supply of the material wouldn’t affect the price, that gives a total value to the moon rock stash at JSC of $2,293,103,632.68.

For less than half a ton of rocks scooped off the surface.

Hmm…

And how much are they saying it would cost to return to the Moon?