Meteorite Aletai. Iron meteorite - 334 g

The 1st largest iron meteorite in the world (74 T) was discovered in Aletai Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in July 2011. The local government carried it away under the pretext of “protection.”

One and a half years later, the meteorite discoverers—Hailati Ayisa and Jiaerheng Habudehai, two guides of Kazakh nationality—decided to pursue the government. Once deposited, it could become the first case concerning the ownership of space objects, Southern Weekly reported. The pastoralists where the meteorite was found also claimed its ownership, further complicating matters.

All three parties claimed to be the first discoverers of the iron meteorite. It will not be easy for the judicial authorities to render a correct verdict because Chinese civil law does not follow the “first possession” theory of property, which states that ownership of something is justified by whoever claims it before anyone else does.

Hailati comes from Qinghe County in Aletai, the place where China’s largest iron meteorite, the “Silver Camel,” was found. He was passionate about meteorites and had become friends with sheep merchant Jiaerheng while doing business.

In April 2011, Hailati received a call from another meteorite enthusiast. The man told Hailati that they were looking for a meteorite on a pasture at Aletai and hoped he would be willing to join the search.

A nine-person team of meteorite enthusiasts then set out to locate the object believed to come from space. Zhang Baolin, an expert on meteorites from the Beijing Planetarium, and meteorite collector Lei Kesi were among them. The search, however, proved unsuccessful. Before the nine men dispersed, they reached a verbal agreement with Hailati and Jiaerheng to continue the search.

“Zhang Baolin said that we would probably receive a big reward if we found it and informed the government,” Hailati said. Living an ordinary life, Hailati and Jiaerheng considered the search an opportunity that could change their destinies.

June 17, 2011, turned out to be the day they found the meteorite. “It was a gift from the Lord; I thought our lives would be different,” Jiaerheng told Southern Weekly.

They immediately informed the seven remaining meteorite enthusiasts, but received no response. However, a few days later they learned from the Beijing Planetarium that the man they had informed had reported the discovery to the Chinese Academy of Sciences as his “first discoverer.”

Beijing Planetarium experts tried to console them by saying, “We know you both found it,” and shortly thereafter issued them a certificate.

On July 16, 2011, the meteorite was officially confirmed as the fourth largest iron meteorite in the world and was found to be part of the same meteoroid as the “Silver Camel.”

However, the local government removed the iron meteorite from the pasture as soon as possible, claiming that it merely sought to ensure better protection of the meteorite.

It also denied that Hailati and Jiaerheng were the first discoverers of the iron meteorite, asserting that Sun Jianguo, the Secretary of the Party in Aletai, had already spotted it in 2004. But there was no evidence for this claim. According to Zhang Min, attorney for Hailati and Jiaerheng, no government had a legal basis to seize, claim, or retain meteorites.

Regarding their reward, the local government agreed to give Hailati and Jiaerheng only 5,000 yuan (US$802) apiece because of “their touching conduct.” Nevertheless, the two men deemed the reward inadequate and resisted the offer.

Meteorite collector Lei Kesi argued that “Beijing Planetarium and I had paid Hailati and Jiaerheng for their help.” He believed they had been hired to assist in the search, so they should not claim ownership. Hailati and Jiaerheng denied this particular relationship but admitted to having received a small sum from the Beijing Planetarium during their last search.

Yet, unexpectedly, pastoralists Juman and Kenjiebieke Remazan now supported that they had in fact discovered the iron meteorite as early as 1986 and thus also claimed ownership.

Under the Chinese land procurement system, pastoralists can only obtain rights and interests in the pasture itself, and since meteorites are not produced by the pasture, the Remazan brothers should not hold the meteorite, Meng Qinguo, a law professor at Wuhan University, said.

In fact, some scientists had already proposed legalizing government ownership of meteorites eight years ago, but the project had been somehow paralyzed. Meteorite enthusiast Liu Xin told newspapers that it took a lot of time and money to find a meteorite,

“Discoverers would be harmed if their hard-to-find meteorites are simply taken by the government.”

“I hope the laws can encourage individuals to find more meteorites and benefit both the country and the discoverer,” Liu Xin said.