I think *finding* the first U.S. lunar meteorite would be a far greater prize than anything the Meteorite List could collectively offer by way of incentive! ;-) --R
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Meteorites USA Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 3:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Search for first U.S. lunar meteorite Hi Martin, The reward is a good idea. Jaime and I were talking about something like a prize earlier today. Perhaps something similar to the Google Lunar X Prize which will pay $10 Million to the first team to put a robot/rover on the Moon. Money is put up by various sponsors, companies and donors for the prize. The first team to accomplish the stated mission gets the is $10 Million prize. Maybe this same model (on a smaller scale) could be applied to the first USA Lunar meteorite discovery prize. Perhaps with dealers, enthusiasts and others fronting the cash for the prize which could be split 50/50 between the Finder as cash prize and a University of choice as a grant for equipment and/or for curriculum related to meteorite study. "The USA Lunar Meteorite Prize" ;) Maybe it would work if done right. There are over 1000 members on the Meteorite list. If each person donated say a small $5 to the prize, then we could offer $5000. If dealers and collectors got involved as sponsors then they'd get the advertising exposure the prize would create, and they may be able to donate as much as $100 or more each. There's more than 100 dealers in the world. That's another $10,000 added to the prize. The prize could be held in escrow/trust until someone finds a verified USA Lunar meteorite (which could very well take years), then it's announced through normal channels (Met Bull, Met Soc etc.) $15,000 is a good motivator to find the first USA Lunar Meteorite. The scientific achievement alone is worth it! And I'm sure other donors might even donate more than $100 if they know at least 50% of the prize would be donated to a University of choice. Which could be voted on by meteorite community members, IMCA, Met Soc, etc. What do you think? Regards, Eric ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
