Makes me wonder if this is a potential funding stream for private Mars missions: Bring back a load of rocks, auction them off on Sotheby's. What would be the optimal amount to bring back to make a profit (or at least offset some of the costs) without tanking the price?
If you are a monopoly producer (which seems fair in this context) you would set the price of the rocks where your marginal revenue equals your marginal demand. Loosely, you’d do a market survey to see what price the market would be willing to pay for a mars rock[0], then figure out your cost structure for bringing back one more kilo of rocks. You’d factor in cost to launch a rocket, fuel for the rocket, astronaut salaries, and don’t forget terrestrial costs like marketing and distribution! If you did a good enough job at predicting supply and demand, you wouldn’t actually care what the price of the product is because you would have claimed all the consumer surplus for yourself :)
To specifically answer the optimal quantity question, the above answer implies that you would keep bringing rocks home until the cost to bring them back is higher than the price you set. To be clear, you could still go out and get more rocks and sell them for less and still make a profit, but you wouldn’t maximize your profit with that strategy. Competitive markets nudge behavior towards providing more product for less profit/cost which is why we love competition.
That can always be manufactured with enough money thrown into advertising. You can even make claims like how the rocks cure cancer and give people better erections if you're careful to do it in ways that can't be directly linked back to you.
We saw and touched a smaller, metallic meteorite fragment last year in a museum. Touching it was an incredible experience. It had a very noticable, distinct smell. I couldnt get enough of running my fingers along the cold, pitted surface of it.
One of my kids still sometimes snickers and offhandedly comments "this metal was once a star" when he sees or handles solid metallic objects.
I'd definitely try to buy something like this if I had "fuck you" amounts of money
> The examination found that it is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby’s says.
And that magma is probably identified by isotopic composition. Similar to how we know that the Moon used to be part of Earth.
> These meteorites are interpreted as Martian because they have elemental and isotopic compositions that are similar to rocks and atmospheric gases on Mars, which have been measured by orbiting spacecraft, surface landers and rovers.
IMHO having "fuck you" money, as opposed to wealth, is vulnerable and emotional and therefore ripe for getting rugged, eg. You don't see Warren Buffet or even space enthusiasts like Bezos and Musk in this fray. At least not publicly. There is probably a happy middle between the two though but man I can't imagine being that rich and needy and setting off the Spidey-sense of every scammer within miles of you. Seriously? "Meteor" hunter? Come on, man ...
They were a lot different than other meteorites. Isotope ratios are used to date when the rock solidified and they were found to be younger. Different isotope ratios which are unique and prevalent across different planets were found to be the same as on Mars.
Basically there was a rare set of clustered properties which were very similar to properties of the rocks and atmosphere on mars as tested by our various landers.
Billionaires are wild. Bones of a T-Rex and now extra-planetary artifacts. Apparently it's a bragging-rights club?
It's easy to sit on the sidelines and talk about how, if we were a billionaire, we would use our money to try to improve the planet and the people and animals on it. But I'd still like to think though that I would do exactly that.
I think they buy these kinds of things for less philanthropic reasons and more for the same reason that the ultra wealthy invest in art: an asset that never loses and often increases in value. It’s a haven for their wealth. If you can “loan” it to professionals (e.g. a museum) who will take care of it for free, and the public can enjoy it too? It’s a solid PR move as well.
Sure. Wish there were more Gates' and Pardons though. (I have no idea if Dolly is a "billionaire" but I like what she does promoting reading in poor schools.)
The rock will now be broken up and pieces of it will be used for expensive Mars edition watches, creating a greater return on this $5.3 million investment. Imagine a piece of mars right on your wrist.
Who on Earth is in the set of peeps who's both wealthy enough to do so and lives in awe of Musk? Wouldn't such fool and said fool's money have been parted long ago?
For the sake of price stability, let's hope larger pieces are not found.
prices are more stable when there is a liquid market
Makes me wonder if this is a potential funding stream for private Mars missions: Bring back a load of rocks, auction them off on Sotheby's. What would be the optimal amount to bring back to make a profit (or at least offset some of the costs) without tanking the price?
If you are a monopoly producer (which seems fair in this context) you would set the price of the rocks where your marginal revenue equals your marginal demand. Loosely, you’d do a market survey to see what price the market would be willing to pay for a mars rock[0], then figure out your cost structure for bringing back one more kilo of rocks. You’d factor in cost to launch a rocket, fuel for the rocket, astronaut salaries, and don’t forget terrestrial costs like marketing and distribution! If you did a good enough job at predicting supply and demand, you wouldn’t actually care what the price of the product is because you would have claimed all the consumer surplus for yourself :)
To specifically answer the optimal quantity question, the above answer implies that you would keep bringing rocks home until the cost to bring them back is higher than the price you set. To be clear, you could still go out and get more rocks and sell them for less and still make a profit, but you wouldn’t maximize your profit with that strategy. Competitive markets nudge behavior towards providing more product for less profit/cost which is why we love competition.
[0] Planet money did a great podcast on how to actually do this. Here’s a link to a transcript (though listening is probably best): https://podscripts.co/podcasts/planet-money/how-much-for-tha...
Even without tanking the price something tells me there's not a huge market for mars rocks.
That can always be manufactured with enough money thrown into advertising. You can even make claims like how the rocks cure cancer and give people better erections if you're careful to do it in ways that can't be directly linked back to you.
The price is high because the rock is unique. Bring back more of them and they will become worthless.
I think you’d have to bring back quite a bit before Mars is no longer cool to own
We saw and touched a smaller, metallic meteorite fragment last year in a museum. Touching it was an incredible experience. It had a very noticable, distinct smell. I couldnt get enough of running my fingers along the cold, pitted surface of it.
One of my kids still sometimes snickers and offhandedly comments "this metal was once a star" when he sees or handles solid metallic objects.
I'd definitely try to buy something like this if I had "fuck you" amounts of money
> It had a very noticable, distinct smell.
The smell of people's hands touching it repeatedly?
> “this metal was once a star”
So are you…
Haha yes, but now they get to feel special for identifying especially cool bits of star.
You are an ESPECIALLY cool bit!
Seems like you would need a pretty hot part of a star to fuse helium into metal
How do we know that piece of rock originates on Mars?
A linked article states
> The examination found that it is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby’s says.
And that magma is probably identified by isotopic composition. Similar to how we know that the Moon used to be part of Earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite
> These meteorites are interpreted as Martian because they have elemental and isotopic compositions that are similar to rocks and atmospheric gases on Mars, which have been measured by orbiting spacecraft, surface landers and rovers.
IMHO having "fuck you" money, as opposed to wealth, is vulnerable and emotional and therefore ripe for getting rugged, eg. You don't see Warren Buffet or even space enthusiasts like Bezos and Musk in this fray. At least not publicly. There is probably a happy middle between the two though but man I can't imagine being that rich and needy and setting off the Spidey-sense of every scammer within miles of you. Seriously? "Meteor" hunter? Come on, man ...
They were a lot different than other meteorites. Isotope ratios are used to date when the rock solidified and they were found to be younger. Different isotope ratios which are unique and prevalent across different planets were found to be the same as on Mars.
Basically there was a rare set of clustered properties which were very similar to properties of the rocks and atmosphere on mars as tested by our various landers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_meteorite
Billionaires are wild. Bones of a T-Rex and now extra-planetary artifacts. Apparently it's a bragging-rights club?
It's easy to sit on the sidelines and talk about how, if we were a billionaire, we would use our money to try to improve the planet and the people and animals on it. But I'd still like to think though that I would do exactly that.
I think they buy these kinds of things for less philanthropic reasons and more for the same reason that the ultra wealthy invest in art: an asset that never loses and often increases in value. It’s a haven for their wealth. If you can “loan” it to professionals (e.g. a museum) who will take care of it for free, and the public can enjoy it too? It’s a solid PR move as well.
It's also wealth that can be transferred seemingly without any import/export restrictions by an Art Dealer. Because, it's art, of course.
Honestly I'd rather billionaires be connoisseurs of rare curiosities than meddle with national and global politics.
Sure. Wish there were more Gates' and Pardons though. (I have no idea if Dolly is a "billionaire" but I like what she does promoting reading in poor schools.)
That’s the beauty of being a multi-billionaire. You can do both. I can sit in my office with a giant chunk of mars and try to do decent shit.
They love historical artifacts too. Creating a black market for purloined treasures.
Before there was such a value placed on history and artifacts these things just got melted down (if they contained valuable metals) or thrown out.
I think I'd put it all in a philanthropic trust and kill myself to repent for accumulating that much wealth, but that is probably just me.
Yeah, it's just you.
If you put it in a philanthropic trust you don't have to proceed to step 2.
The rock will now be broken up and pieces of it will be used for expensive Mars edition watches, creating a greater return on this $5.3 million investment. Imagine a piece of mars right on your wrist.
I sure hope you are wrong. It's not in the article.
Was it bought by Elon?
It’d be funny if he bought it then returned it to Mars.
That would make it even more valuable.
Gott in Himmel, to whom?
Who on Earth is in the set of peeps who's both wealthy enough to do so and lives in awe of Musk? Wouldn't such fool and said fool's money have been parted long ago?