Loophole Could Allow Private Land Claims On Other Worlds

Who owns the moon? What about Mars?

For now, the answer is no one, but as more private companies, billionaire entrepreneurs and national governments start casting their eyes on space, the question could change from a futuristic problem into a real issue.

Under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which governs international space law, no one nation can claim sovereignty over a body in space. But there could be a loophole.

Full blown colonization and settlement of other planets, moons and even asteroids might actually happen, says space policy consultant Rand Simberg, if a government could provide one thing: property rights.

Parceling out plots of land on celestial bodies might encourage people to invest in these properties, and this would benefit Earth economically, according to Simberg. He proposes the Space Settlement Prize Actand lays out how such a scheme would work in a new paper published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, on Apr. 2.

The international community might never buy into such a plan. The Outer Space Treaty states that space is the “common interest of all mankind” and that exploration or use of it “should be carried on for the benefit of all peoples.” Traditionally, this has been interpreted as prohibiting private property claims on other bodies in the solar system. The U.S., along with dozens of other countries, has ratified the treaty.

Handing out property rights to individuals and private companies would be a major shift from current thinking about outer space.

But Simberg argues that the treaty doesn’t explicitly prevent private companies from claiming territory. Though, if the U.S. government accepted such a claim, that could be taken as a declaration of sovereignty, which might violate the Outer Space Treaty, said space law attorney Michael Listner.

Read more at the source here:  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/moon-mars-property/