You can buy anything on the internet – even, until recently, a rocket engine. NASA has since confiscated the engine, which contains technology that could form the basis of missiles as well as spacecraft. But the incident highlights security concerns at the space agency .
Called the RL-10, this type of engine powered NASA's Saturn-I rocket in the 1960s. That was a precursor to the larger Saturn-V, which took astronauts to the moon.
In a recent report, NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) described how in July, it confiscated an RL-10 from a man who had put the engine up for sale on an internet auction site.
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The agency sometimes sells surplus space hardware to the public, but it seems this engine left NASA without permission.
The person trying to sell the engine told investigators he bought it from someone, who in turn got it from a NASA employee, says the report, which does not describe how the NASA employee acquired it. The engine is worth about $200,000.
Rocket engines are supposed to be under particularly tight control at NASA: the US is keen to avoid its rocket technology winding up in the hands of countries with which it has a tense relationship, such as China.
"Security at NASA is not adequate in my opinion," says Joseph Gutheinz, a former investigator for OIG.
Robert Pearlman, who runs collectspace.com reckons the recovered engine is the same one that appeared on eBay in 2010.
