Nobody Owns The Moon, Experts Say

Nations believe there should be no space regions under moon's private ownership. But disputes over who should own and sell resources taken from the moon, planets, and asteroids are escalating.

The argument occurred as the flags of China and the United States flew over the moon's barren, hauntingly motionless surface. However, any official from these nations will tell you that these flags do not indicate any property claim. They resemble alien graffiti more than anything else.

NASA Partners with Industry for New Spacewalking, Moonwalking Services — An artist’s illustration of two suited crew members working on the lunar surface. The one in the foreground lifts a rock to examine it while the other photographs the collection site in the background. NASA

Europe Can't Own The Moon

There are several important questions raised by the idea of colonizing space. The ownership of the moon and other heavenly bodies is one of the most fundamental questions.

Alexander Soucek, the ESA's director of public international law, says they can't.

"A nation can plant a flag on the moon, but it doesn't have any legal meaning or consequence. This is entrained in the Outer Space Treaty, where it's written that no country can claim sovereignty on the moon or make it its own territory," Soucek said in a DW report.

According to Soucek, a country may raise a flag on the moon, but it will have no bearing on or legal significance. He continued that the Outer Space Treaty forbids any nation from claiming sovereignty over the moon or making it a part of its own territory.

Importantly, this regulation also applies to privately owned businesses like Elon Musk's SpaceX, according to Soucek.

Nobody Can Own The Moon

Dr. Jill Stuart, a space law specialist, emphasized in The Moon Exhibition Book that no nation could claim ownership of a celestial body. Others who are knowledgeable about space law underlined that if nation-states cannot claim space, neither can their citizens or corporations.

According to The Conversation, the Soviet Union and all other space-faring countries chose not to commit the same error as the old European imperial powers when deciding on the Moon's legal status, the United States. Avoiding a "land grab" in space could, at the very least, prevent another world war.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 is in the best interests of all nations to explore and use space because it is the "domain of all mankind."

No nation will claim possession of the Moon as a result of the Outer Space Treaty, regardless of which flags are raised on its surface.

As of 2019, 109 countries are still subject to the Treaty.

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Attempts in Owning The Moon

German resident Martin Juergens took control of the Moon for his family in 1996. Juergens claimed that Prussian King Frederick the Great presented it to his ancestors as a token of gratitude in 1756, according to Royal Museums Greenwich. Juergens requested that the German government take the matter to the US. Unsurprisingly, neither administration has taken any action.

Private companies have been offering for sale land parcels on the Moon since at least the 1950s. One of the most well-known examples is Lunar Embassy, a Moon real estate company founded by Dennis Hope.

Hope allegedly found a gap in the Outer Space Treaties and started selling Moon plots for $25 per acre. Since the 1980s, he appears to have sold more than 611 million acres of lunar land.

Hope contends that the Outer Space Treaties do not apply to his company because it is a commercial enterprise. Space lawyers deny Hope's backdoor really exists, and the United Nations has never recognized his claim.