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July 2, 1969 Dear Harry: In April I read to you my short memo concerning the Moon; on May 19 I left a copy with Dr. Otalara, your scientific assistant; next you assured me that this time I would be proven mistaken. The future landings, not necessarily the First one, will bring the answers. When I maintain (see the way I expressed myself in my memo) that the rocks on the moon may be magnetic though the moon possesses hardly any magnetic field of its own, I suggest something that is not expected. Yet should the rocks be found magnetic, the explanation will be immediately forthcoming that this proves their meteoric nature. Therefore I have urgently advised — and I repeat it here — that the orientation of the rocks before their removal should be noticed and marked. Meteorites would fall at random and would not be all similarly oriented. You said to me that this simple task of marking the orientation is not included in the program; if it will be omitted you will have a question instead of an answer. You expect ice under the upper layer of the crust. Some nine thousand years ago water was showered on Earth and Moon alike (deluge). But on the Moon all of it dissociated, hydrogen escaping; the rocks will be found rich in oxygen, chlorine, sulfur and iron. Moon has no oceans and no marine life: water covered it only for a very limited time (following the deluge) counted in hundreds of years. Nevertheless I maintain bitumen and other hydrocarbon residues and derivatives will be discovered on the Moon, though not necessarily on the first landing: such discovery will be followed by the claim that rich marine life once existed on the moon. But my claim is based on the occurrence 34 centuries ago described in Worlds in Collision. Since the moon was heated and its surface became molten only a few thousand years ago, the temperature gradient under the surface crust will show, to some depth, a mounting curve. In friendship,
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