Meteorite falls at home in Indonesia and resident becomes millionaire

Some say that “money doesn’t fall from the sky”, but it didn’t work for Josua Hutagalung. The Indonesian coffin maker became an instant millionaire when a piece of meteorite, valued at more than R $ 10 million, hit the roof of his home. He sold it and earned what he would earn by working for 30 years.

Josua says she was working on the street in front of his house, in August, when she heard the crash. “It was as if a tree had fallen on us,” he told the English newspaper The Sun.

Upon arriving at the site, he soon spotted the 2.2 kg space rock the size of a football. “It was too hot to pick up, so my wife dug it up with a hoe and we took it inside,” he reported.

Upon learning of Josua’s discovery, Jared Collins, a specialist in space rocks, was sent to the coffin maker’s house with a lucrative proposal for the sidereal object. “Astute negotiator”, Josua sold the rock for an amount equivalent to 30 years of his current salary.

Collins sent the space rock to the United States, where it was purchased by an American collector who stored it in liquid nitrogen, at the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University.

Experts hailed the 4.5 billion-year-old space rock as one of the most significant meteorite discoveries of all time – saying it may contain elements like the carbonaceous chondrite CM1 / 2, which provide clues to the origin of life.

Josua, who continues her life in Indonesia, intends to use the money earned from the rock to retire and build a church in her village. In addition to the financial aspect, the father of three boys sees chance as a good omen: “I also always wanted a daughter and I hope this is a sign that I will now be lucky to have one,” he said.

Fragments of the meteorite captured by Josua are currently on sale on eBay, priced at 757 pounds, about $ 5420 a gram. With this, the ‘stone hammer’ – as the main rock is called – is valued at 1.4 million pounds (R $ 10.03 million) for its 1.8 kg.