Yet another space property rights piece, at The New Republic. My take is here and here.
Nice to see that the latter is what you get if you’re feeling lucky on Google with “space property rights.”
5 thoughts on “Who Owns The Moon?”
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I thought this was a new article until I saw that its from the February issue…
The factual errors also make me wonder about the quality of the article – for example the Moon Treaty is from 1979, not 1984 and China would not be the first to take a core sample, core samples were done as part of Project Apollo.
And then there’s the 3He…
The moon is too close and too easy. So it will be a political football.
The moon is not the place to go if you want to get away from the state.
Going to the boonies is how you get independence. 20 to 40 light minutes away is a good start.
“The moon is too close and too easy. So it will be a political football.”
And don’t forget the cultural significance to just about every society that has existed.
“The moon is not the place to go if you want to get away from the state.”
Any off-world settlement will require a government. When death is so close, there will be regulations and public works projects to keep it at bay. The easiest place to get away from the state is on Earth where you can survive without a complex high tech habitat but it never ends very well for people who want to be left alone.
Any off-world settlement will require a government.
A small group of people don’t need much government and that could be just meeting every once in a while to shoot the breeze. Conflicts just need a means of resolution… like when older men used to sit at the city gates.
A complex high tech habitat is exactly what you don’t want for survival when your level of industry can’t support it. This is what makes Mars One a suicide mission. I’m sure Paragon makes some nice equipment, but if you need parts imported from earth you are asking for trouble. Survival on mars only requires gas light era technology if done right.