[meteorite-list] the London Times

From: entropydave <entropydave_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:14 2004
Message-ID: <005e01c0fd9f$154bf220$3df989d4_at_default>

Thought you may wish to see this article in today's Times newspaper, dated
25th June 2001

"AMATEURS BEAT NASA TO MARS METEORITES"

Adam Sage, Paris.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two French adventurers have beaten NASA in the search for meteorites from
Mars to produce evidence that will shed light on the evolution of the Red
planet.

In the cut-throat world of "star hunting", Bruno Fectay, 30 and Carine
Bidaut, 25, have found four of only 20 Martian meteorites ever found on
Earth.
The meteorites were thrown from Mars when it collided with an asteroid about
10 million years ago. they floated around space and landed in the Sahara
hundreds, or perhaps, thousands of years ago.
One of the stones has revealed apparent traces of water under the planet's
surface, seen by scientists as a key piece in the puzzle that eventually may
explain why life failed to develop on Mars.
With the meteorites sometimes worth millions of pounds each, the success of
the French pair, who employ a group of desert nomads, has excited jealousy.
"We have had to put them in a bank safe because our rivals are prepared to
do anything to get their hands on them and some are very violent," M Fectay
said. "Our rivals have tried every trick."
M Fectay and Mme Bidaut are self-taught amateurs who began travelling across
the Sahara desert three years ago and have since found hundreds of
meteorites, including four from Mars. No team has ever been so successful.

--
In gentle decay,
d.
http://www.meteorites.ic24.net/index.html
http://www.thc.u-net.com/davethc1.htm
"I have a proof that x^n+y^n=z^n never has integer solutions for n>2.
However, it won't fit into my signature file...."

Received on Mon 25 Jun 2001 01:47:55 PM PDT