Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, a small robot was built to scoop up sand on the Moon. The sand had already been sold for 5,000 dollars.

The Moon’s surface is covered in crushed rock, dust and sand. NASA wanted to buy a handful of it, and a company in Luxembourg took on the job. The sand would never be sent to Earth. What was being tested was whether anything left lying on the Moon can be sold at all.

The robot was about the size of a shoebox. It was to roll out, scoop up the sand with a small shovel and photograph it. Then the sand would change hands.

But the lander hit the surface too hard. A satellite orbiting the Moon has photographed the site: a dark smudge of churned-up moon sand.