![]() ![]() Delinking from ownership, what about mining extra-terrestrial resources? There have been add-ons to the OST, such as on return of objects from space (astronauts included), international registration and liability for objects launched and limitations on what governments can do on celestial bodies. As with land, property rights are a bundle of rights. It didn’t anticipate property rights in space. ![]() Reflecting the vintage, the OST is primarily about peaceful space exploration and limiting the Cold War in space. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorisation and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty.” The problem with the Treaty is elsewhere. “States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. If there is such a legal case, I suspect Article VI of the OST is sufficient to settle matters. Other than in the realm of science fiction, who would have imagined in 1967 that private companies would venture into space, or that chicken nuggets would float around in space? The likes of IAOHPE can argue that Article II applies only to sovereign states, not individual parties. The world in 2020 is different from that in 1967. “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” All law (and legislation) is overtaken by events, just as the ad coelum doctrine eventually had to be modified. Article II of this Treaty seems clear enough, at least in intent. Most countries have signed this, though some have signed, but have not yet ratified it. On specifics of rights on the moon, Mars and asteroids, there is an Outer Space Treaty (OST, 1967) and this covers the moon and other celestial bodies. No infinitely above and infinitely below. With air travel (the change started with balloon flights) and now space travel, ad coelum has become circumscribed. In the novella, using this principle, Harriman persuades the United Nations to grant his company rights to the moon. In plain English, a person who owns a plot of land not only has rights to the land, but also to the air above and subsurface below the land. This fancy sounding Latin (law always becomes more impressive when Latin is used) maxim is, Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos, abbreviated more simply as the ad coelum doctrine. At the time, at least in fiction, Heinlein invoked a legal maxim that has gone through extremely interesting evolution in jurisprudence. That man was a businessman named Delos David Harriman. Interplanetary Development Corporation and Lunar Embassy Commission hawked lunar real estate.Įvery science fiction connoisseur will remember Robert Heinlein’s 1949 novella, The Man who Sold the Moon. There was the German who claimed Frederick the Great gave his ancestor the moon. Sushant Singh Rajput was only one example. ![]() While Mars is relatively new, land on the moon has been around for some time, again with deeds registered by IAOHPE, or without it. ![]() For Mars, or the moon for that matter, there can be no such presumption. For registering a sale deed, the seller is presumed to possess title. But if there are people gullible enough to pay for this doubtful package (there are standard, deluxe and premium rates) and like the resultant ego trip, why not? It seems to be no different from the idea of purchasing honorary doctorate degrees from places with dubious academic merit.Īnyone who has bought land in India knows that registration of a sale deed does not guarantee ownership or title. I haven’t found anything suggesting this is an authentic organisation. There is indeed a company (perhaps there is more than one) that sells you an acre of land on Mars with a deed registered with the International Association of Human Planetary Exploration (IAOHPE). ![]()
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