I have been asked by NASA Headquarters to contact you in order to assess

whether or not your rock sample might be a meteorite and, if so, whether

or not it might be from Mars. Copies of my final report will be sent to

you, to Helen Rothman of NASA's Congressional Inquiries Division, and to

Senator Phil Gramm. The report will include my independent assessment

of the nature and origin of the rock sample you refer to as Frass-71001.

As a first step, I would like to gather all the existing information

on this specimen. I have downloaded the report on your web page at

www.micromike.com. This provides a very good start; there is a lot of

useful information here. Could you please send me the names, e-mail

addresses, and/or phone numbers of any specialists from academia,

private labs, or NASA centers that have examined this rock? I would

like to contact them and request from them any additional data or sample

descriptions they might have. It would be of great assistance to me if

you could provide the contacts you made at West Texas A & M and Texas

Tech. This should give me a better idea on how to proceed.

You obviously have a keen interest in this rock sample; the effort you

have taken to understand it shows in the arguments you summarize on your

entertaining and informative web page. I hope that I can be of some

assistance in resolving the issue of whether or not it is likely that

this rock came from Mars.

Sincerely,

Buck Sharpton

Staff Scientist

Lunar and Planetary Institute

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