“As soon as something falls, it’s time to get going”: the lucrative business of meteorite hunters who earn thousands of dollars selling them

In addition to the obvious scientific interest, in recent years a lucrative market has been created around extraterrestrial rocks.

The willingness of private collectors to pay large sums of money for a piece of space material is attracting people like Roberto Vargas, an American son of Puerto Rican immigrants, who in 2021 quit his job to dedicate himself to searching for meteorites around the globe.

“As soon as something falls, it’s time to get going,” Vargas told The Documentary Podcast from the BBC World Service.

The curiosity that changed his life

Vargas’ career as a meteorite hunter began out of curiosity.

“For some reason, I thought a normal person couldn’t own meteorites, so as soon as I got my hands on one, I was super excited,” he explained. From there he began to collect them.

However, when in 2019 he learned that one had fallen in Costa Rica, he decided to go after it.

“I didn’t find it, but I was able to buy quite a few,” he said.

And immediately afterwards, he decided to put them up for sale to pay for part of his adventure and the result exceeded all his expectations.

“On that first trip to Costa Rica, I returned on a Friday and by Monday I had already sold meteorites and had earned more than US$40,000so it was an experience that changed my life,” he said.

A couple of years later, Vargas quit his job as a therapist in the mental health sector, where he earned between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, to dedicate himself exclusively to tracking down space rocks that end up on Earth.

Making a new market

But the complex task of finding pieces of rock from outer space would be meaningless without people like Darryl Pitt, a music photographer turned meteorite dealer.

“I was at the Newport Folk Festival and someone said to me, ‘Let’s go to a rock show‘. “I didn’t know it was literally a show of stones, gems and minerals, I thought it was going to be something musical,” said Pitt, who was influenced by space stones since he was a child, when he saw the crater left by one of them that fell in Arizona (USA) thousands of years ago.

“We went to the event and there was a guy selling a piece of meteorite from the Arizona crater, the same place I went to as a child. I bought it and that’s how it all started,” he said.

“I wanted to share my fascination with the world, but I also wanted to make money. And I realized that the important thing was to introduce them to the world of auctions,” he added.

And in the 1990s he organized the first meteorite auction. Since then prices have only risen, largely because the number of those seeking to collect them has grown.

Why the interest in these pieces of rocks? And how is its value set? Before answering these questions it would be worth clarifying what is being sold.

“A meteorite is a rock that has landed on the Earth’s surface,” Professor Sarah Russell, who works at the Natural Sciences Museum in London, explained to the BBC.

The expert recalled that before, while these rocks cross the atmosphere like “bright racing cars,” they were “meteors.”

“A meteorite (…) can come from anywhere. We believe that most come from asteroids, but some come from the Moon, some from Mars and others have an origin that we do not know, but they are all rocks from space,” said the expert.

Factors such as the size of the rock, whether it is a complete piece, whether it collided with an artificial object, the rarity of its composition, its classification and its origin influence when determining its value.

“You can buy a meteorite for only 20 or 30 cents a gram,” said Pitt, who however warned that there are many fakes on sites like eBay.

However, for unusual pieces you can pay millions of dollars. This was the case of a Martian meteorite, weighing 24 kilos, which was sold for US$4.3 million by the New York auction house Sotheby’s last July.

But how can you distinguish a meteorite from an ordinary rock?

“When a meteorite passes through the atmosphere, its exterior melts and forms a millimeter-thin crust called a fusion crust, which is very unique.Russell explained.

In addition to pointing out that they can also be heavier than an Earth rock, the expert said that they need to be tested to determine their chemical composition.

There are three types of meteorites: stone, iron or a mixture of both, Russell said.

A questioned trade

The case of the meteorite sold in New York generated a debate regarding this type of operations.

The rock was found in Niger in November 2023 by an anonymous finder. And once its sale became known, the authorities of the African country and academics expressed doubts about the legality of the operation.

“We must wait for the instructions given to the different ministries to clarify this matter and know how the meteorite came out, who removed it and if its extraction was authorized. Who issued the authorization? Only when we have all these details will we be able to make a judgment,” said Professor Idi Umuru Amadou, director of the Department of Archeology at Abdu Mouni University, to the BBC.

Niger does not have legislation on extraterrestrial objects, but it does have regulations on minerals and heritage assets.

“Normally, objects like that, cultural goods that leave the country, must be accompanied by an administrative authorization, depending on the area to which they belong. It must be requested and, once granted, the object can legally leave the country. If not, it is theft or looting,” the specialist warned.

The auction of the Martian meteorite from Niger and its subsequent controversy have put a spotlight on the commercialization of space rocks and the question of who owns them when they fall to Earth.

Regulations vary enormously from country to country, Professor Russell admitted.

“For example, in Australia the export of meteorites is not allowed and there are very strict laws and policies, while in the United Kingdom there are no specific laws,” he explained.

The other search engines

But not only are there searchers who are dedicated to locating meteorites to sell them to collectors and thus make money, but there are also some who seek to ensure that these objects end up in scientific institutions.

One of those groups is in Latin America and is made up of women. This is the “Azmeteoricas”, an organization made up of Brazilian scientists who do not hesitate to move to deserts, cities or jungles when they have information about an impact.

“We stop what we are doing and start looking for this new meteorite. Because being the first makes a difference,” said meteorologist Amanda Tosi, one of the “Azmeteores” to the BBC.

The expert does not condemn the commercialization of space rocks, but she does advocate for their regulation.

“We do not want to prohibit the sale and purchase, because when there is commerce around meteorites, people are encouraged to look for them, and these people find important meteorites,” he reasoned.

“If it is banned, we will have less to study. But we need a balance to protect the meteorite as cultural and scientific heritage to ensure that we have enough samples to study. That is why we need a law,” he added.

However, standards are not always enough. An example of this is Argentina, which, despite having legislation on the subject, has seen in recent years how its vast meteorite heritage has been the target of smugglers.

In the South American country is Campo del Cielo, one of the largest meteorite fields in the world located about 1,000 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires.

Russell spoke in similar terms.

“When truly unique samples are found, they can potentially open a door to a part of our solar system that we haven’t been able to explore before. And if we don’t have the opportunity to obtain that rock, we won’t be able to learn as much about the space around us, which will impact the planning of future space missions, for example, and the space industry in general,” he explained.

“Given the great interest in meteorites also in the private sector, prices skyrocket and sometimes it becomes more difficult for museums and other scientific institutions to obtain them, especially the most precious ones,” he added.

For his part, Vargas defended his work and denied being a pirate.

“Yes, we have economic motivation, but also scientific motivation. We want these rocks to be in the hands of scientists, and to be protected, cared for and studied.”, he stated.

*This written version of The Documentary Podcast, from the BBC World Service, was written by Juan Francisco Alonso.

*Click here to listen to the program in English.