Gold Plates, GSA Auction
One lot consisting six 24KT gold plates weighing 6,015.5 grams. These plates were reportedly flown in space for 69 months. Please click on attachment for purity information rounded to the nearest 1/10th determined by x-ray fluorescence.
Long Duration Exposure Facility
“LDEF’s 69 months in space provided scientific data on the long-term effects of space exposure on materials, components and systems that has benefited NASA spacecraft designers to this day.”
Keith’s note: Hmmm … These plates were reportedly flown in space for 69 months. Sounds like LDEF to me. But “reportedly flown“? Is GSA uncertain whether these things have been flown in space? Can’t they just ask NASA?
Did I read that right? 6 kilograms of 24K gold?
214 pounds or 3424 ounces.. something like 40 mil?
(6) 1kg sheets or 6kg total (about 13 pounds)
About $250K
Its being bid at $218k as of now, so there is still room for some serious profit.
Completely irrelevantly, that mass was just under the mass of the first plutonium bomb cores. Today’s range about 1/4 to 3/4 of that amount. Again, totally unrelated to the gold plates. The number just struck me.
Reminded me of this:
“Los Alamos even managed a direct loan from Fort Knox. Frustrated in their search for the metal that would best prevent neutrons from escaping the core of the plutonium bomb, laboratory scientists decided to try gold. They promptly borrowed enough bars of bullion to make a pure gold sphere to contain the bomb’s core. Gold, it turned out, was unsuitable and, not long afterward, the sphere was found in the office of an intensely preoccupied scientist — being used as a doorstop.”
Speaking of both gold, and nucular testing….
Given this story’s note of a 69-month exposure… what’s the radiation count on this load, if any?
Shouldn’t be any.
It appears to be the:
Chemistry of Micrometeoroids Experiment (LDEF instrument A0187-1)
http://www.researchgate.net…
Interestingly, there were 7 plates, not 6. Someone (in NASA, GSA, Academia, Cleaning crew?) is $40,000 ahead!
Quite likely these:
It actually seems to me this should be returned to the treasury and not sold. It’s not ilke NASA gets to keep the money.
Plates installed
Real NASA Gold is memories of better days that have long since gone by.
NASA’s favorite Moon song Golden Oldies:
http://moon.nasa.gov/moonso…
“reportedly flown”. Sounds like that auctioneer long ago learnt not to give guarantees based on what sellers say.