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Gold and Rubies. The Tranquillity Base rocks yielded small traces of at least three new minerals unlike any on earth—all of which contained iron. Remembering the man who launched the Apollo program, some scientists suggested naming one of the new minerals Kennedyite. Scientists were also intrigued by traces of gold and rubies. But the University of Chicago's Edward Anders quickly cooled off any ideas of lunar prospecting. "The amount," he said, "is much too small to finance the space program."
Little excitement was stirred by the reports that carbon and even amino acids —the building blocks of protein—had been found in the Sea of Tranquillity samples. Scientists pointed out that at least some of the carbon had probably come from meteorites and that the rock samples may well have been contaminated with amino acids during laboratory examinations. "It can be inferred," said Harvard Biologist Elso Barghoorn, that the top layer of the moon "has never possessed life and is inimical to life."
Despite some similarities of composition and age, the Apollo findings make the moon seem less and less like the earth. No rumblings have been detected in its interior; the chemicals and minerals found on the lunar surface are significantly different from those of the earth. Columbia University Geochemist Paul Cast called the moon "a cinder —dehydrated and formed at a high temperature so that it has lost its water, if indeed it ever had very much." The disparities are so great that most scientists have now all but abandoned the theory that the moon was torn from the earth.
Then how was the moon created? Scientists think that significant evidence may lie in the lunar highlands, which apparently have changed little since the moon was born. The quest for such evidence will begin when Apollo 13 sets down in a highland area near the crater Fra Mauro. The setdown will not be as soon as originally planned. Partly because of criticism by scientists that they did not have enough time for research and planning between moon flights, the space agency last week deferred the scheduled March 12 mission until April 11.