User:Iazyges/Project Moon Dust

Project Moon Dust was an American secret project to recover objects that had fallen from space.

History
In November 1973, the US State Department (USSD) communicated to their ambassador in the Ivory Coast that they were willing to assist in identifying an object which they believed had fallen from space. The US was interested in the object due to the cyrillic characters on it; suggesting Soviet origin. They asked for the object to be shipped to the US, to allow for "positive identification and analysis of purpose, technical characteristics, etc". The USSD offered to send Ivory Coast their report on the object, and return the object at the end of analysis. The Ambassador was instructed to hide the importance the object held to the US. Although initial analysis suggested that the object was actually melted down automobile parts, on October 1978, NASA offered to inspect the object and attempt to confirm source, before forwarding it to General Dynamics for material analysis.

In November 1972, two objects, which were believed to be space fragments, were discovered in New Zealand, one on 24 October, the other on 5 November. The objects were both spherical, which caused initial suggestions that they were pressure vessels, had no identifying marks upon them, and caused no physical damage on impact. The two objects were approximately 240 m from each other. The first object was turned over to local police after being found by a farmer, before being sent to the National Centre for Radiation Science in Christchurch, for a radioactivity test, which came back negative. The object was then turned over to the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). The second object was found by a different farmer, and also turned over to the police. A radioactivity test was not made on the second object due to similarities to the first. The second object was then also sent to the DSIR. The USSD was informed of this sometime in November 1978. The USSD reached out to New Zealand, and the DSIR agreed to fully cooperate with the US. The first object was 18 cm wide at diameter, 16.5 cm wide at poles, and roughly 3 mm thick. It weighed 882 g, although DSIR estimated up to 10% of its weight could have been lost during re-entry. Preliminary analysis suggested the object was made of 11.1% silicon, 0.7% iron, 0.02% magnesium, 0.02% copper, and the rest aluminum. Questions were raised of the objects abilities to survive re-entry, due to an estimate that the objects melting point would be less than 600°, thus very unlikely to survive re-entry. The DSIR reached the conclusion that these objects were altered aluminum fishing floats.

On 2 November 1976, two pieces of metal, which were possibly space related, were found in Windsor, Ontario. The US Air Force Foreign Technology Division expressed interest in the objects, and the US Ambassador was instructed to request Canadian reports of the object, and assess possibilities of cooperation with Canadian authorities in identifying and analysing the objects.

On 16 August 1979, the US embassy in Bolivia was informed that an object had been found north of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which was described as being 70 cm in diameter, 2 m in circumference, and 0.5 in thick. The object was made of a light but resistant alloy, suggesting it was either a fuel tank or a satellite. The object bore no identifying marks.