Report Indicates Hundreds Of 'Astromaterials' Have Been
Lost
A report released Thursday by NASA's Inspector General indicates
that the agency has lost hundreds of samples of moon rocks and
other "astromaterials" since the first specimens were returned to
Earth by the Apollo program. NASA confirmed that 517 loaned
astromaterials have been lost or stolen between 1970 and June 2010,
including 18 lunar samples reported lost by a researcher in 2010
and 218 lunar and meteorite samples stolen from a researcher at the
Johnson Space Center in 2002, but since recovered.
Lunar Sample Disk NASA Image
The incident which sparked the investigation focused on a sample
disk loaned to the Mount Cuba Astronomical Observatory in
Greenville, Delaware. According to the report, NASA had loaned the
sample disk to the Observatory in 1978, and the loan agreement
between the two organizations had expired in June 2008. However,
due to an administrative oversight and the lack of a system to
adequately track renewal dates for long-term loans, the Exhibits
Manager did not contact Mount Cuba regarding the loan until
February 2010. At that time, the Exhibits Manager learned that the
responsible Mount Cuba employee had died the previous year and that
the Observatory could not locate the sample. As of December 2011,
the disk still has not been found.
As a result, the IG found that NASA lacks sufficient controls
over its loans of moon rocks and other astromaterials, which
increases the risk that these unique resources may be lost.
"Specifically, we found that Curation Office records were
inaccurate, researchers could not account for all samples loaned to
them, and researchers held samples for extended periods without
performing research or returning the samples to NASA," the report
says. "In addition, although NASA recently improved controls over
loans to educators, we identified additional opportunities for NASA
to strengthen its practices and update its policies for loans of
astromaterials for education and public display purposes."
Apollo 15 Moon Rock NASA Image
The report says that NASA needs to tighten controls over
educator and public display loans of these unique resources, and
that while NASA "has taken some steps over the last 2 years to
improve controls over loans of lunar and meteorite samples for use
in classrooms, related Agency policies are out of date and do not
accurately reflect current practices and organizational
responsibilities."
In responding to the IG's investigation, NASA management said it
agreed with the findings and recommendations, and set a
self-imposed deadline of September 30th, 2012 to have new
safeguards and procedures in place.