Cockroaches that eat lunar dust from the Apollo 11 mission are being auctioned

Moon dust was brought back to Earth by the Apollo 11 astronauts. The dust is fed to the cockroaches and released. Both cockroaches and dust that have been kept since 1969 are up for auction.

Auctioneer RR Auction says it is an "extremely rare" specimen and will be auctioned between May 26 and June 23. Moon dust is conceivable, but why is it being given away? Cockroaches eat and collect waste?

Why is Moon dust fed to cockroaches and collects waste?

The story begins with the first human Moon landing mission - Apollo 11. Biologists fear that alien germs or "Moon bugs" could be accidentally brought back to Earth even though they are sure. The moon has no life. Therefore, both astronauts and spacecraft after performing the mission and returning to Earth are given a 21-day quarantine from the time they left the Moon.

So, at the Lundar Receiving Lab, NASA built a facility to isolate people from the Moon and matter from the outside world. Astronauts have to undergo many medical examinations. Simultaneously, a wide range of creatures from fish to mice and even cockroaches were exposed to Moon dust to observe the reaction. Apollo 11 brought back about 22kg of Moon rock, of which 10% was dust that was tested with animals. The dust is fed to fish and insects, which is also a form of destructive testing where the dust is supposed to be digested and gone.

Everyone thought there would be no more chance to see Moon dust, except Marion Brooks, an entomologist at St. Paul. Brooks was then hired by NASA to further study the cockroaches that fed on the Moon dust. Although the quarantine period is over, and no people or animals have died after coming into contact with matter from the Moon, but NASA still wants to better understand any bad effects that can be caused by alien matter.

10% of lunar dust is tested with animals.

Brooks was the first to be trusted with the Moon samples, but they were in the stomachs of eight preserved cockroaches. She said that although the Moon dust inside the same cockroach could be seen with the naked eye, Brooks dissected the tissue to study under a microscope. The cockroaches were fed a half-and-half diet of Moon dust and regular food. In addition, she also studied Moon dust that was eaten and released by cockroaches and sterilized.

Mrs. Brooks hung all these mementos on the wall of her house and left them there for many years.

Although no infectious agent was found, the lunar soil was not toxic or dangerous to cockroaches, but Brooks continued his research. She kept cockroach tissues and carcasses. Brooks retired in 1986, but before leaving St. Paul, she brought all her research materials including cockroach tissues, a clipping from an article about her research, a postcard from the Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Center for the Space Shuttle). Johnson space station) in Houston, a copy of the card left on the Moon by Apollo 11 and a stamped envelope, all arranged by her on a board. In the center, she placed a jar containing Moon dust from biological experiments and three German cockroaches (Blattella germanica). She hung all these mementos on the wall of her house and left them there for many years.

This year, a jar containing about 40 milligrams of Moon dust from Brooks' collection went up for auction.

Three years later, these specimens were put on display, two boxes of microscope slides taken from cockroaches that had been fed Moon dust and another 66 slides were sold at auction for $10,000 by the company. Regency-Superior Galleries auction house in Beverly Hills, California. This year, a jar containing about 40 milligrams of Moon dust from Brooks' collection went up for auction.

Just in April, a very small sample of Moon dust, too small to be weighed, sold at auction for $504375. Three small stones with a total weight of 0.2 grams, brought back from the Moon by the Soviet Luna 16 probe were auctioned for $ 855 thousand in 2018. Therefore, the auction unit RR Auction estimates Brooks' set of specimens including a previously sold display (now resold) and a jar of Moon dust will sell for $400,000, with bids starting at $10,000.