Property Rights for the Moon

On the big picture scale, the "large step for mankind" made when Neil Armstrong first touched lunar ground is still a "small step for man". There has been little success so far in the attempt to conquer space, for one reason or another. But recent efforts, like the many probes that orbit or land on distant celestial bodies or race through the far space, show great promise. Still, not much thought has been given to the legal aspects linked to the ownership of the places we are exploring and will someday own.

But a book written by a research specialist from the Romanian Space Agency, Virgiliu Pop, called "Who Owns the Moon? – Extraterrestrial Aspects of Land and Mineral Resources Ownership," plans to change that. He believes that future generations of legal representatives may have their hands full soon. But until then, the problem he sees is that there is still no precedent on which space laws can be based, as is customary.

 

In Pop's view, property rights are better than group ownership. "Despite the noble ideals of equity and care for the have-nots, the Common Heritage paradigm of the Moon Treaty has more faults than merits," shared Pop in an interview for Space. "A refutation of the Common Heritage principle does not mean, however, that the developing world will, or should, be left behind in the space era," he added.

 

"China, India and Brazil are living proofs that a developing country can, through its own effort, join the spacefaring club. Instead of freeloading on the efforts of the older spacefarers, the have-nots should pool their meager financial resources into a common space agency or into regional ones, and proceed at exploiting the riches of outer space for themselves. [...] Space is indeed a new frontier calling for individualism rather than collectivism, and its challenges need to be addressed with a legal regime favorable to property rights."

 

The author's message for future space competitors is one that calls for joining efforts, "Countries of the world unite – you have nothing to lose but the chains of gravity... the skies are open".