Obviously not this American company which makes me wonder how stupid those paying them for the extraterrestrial real estate must be because property rights can only have legal force when they are recognised by a sovereign government and as per Article II of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, no sovereign Governments reach goes up as far as the moon so good luck cashing in that moon property piece of paper sucker.
Another argument is that if someone just turned up and occupied it, would they become the de facto owner?
Surprisingly there is nothing to stop just this happening, much in the way the British just turned up in Australia and North America and claimed it as their own only there would be less Natives to brush aside on the moon.
Sending a probe is not enough, you have to physically be there 'body and mind' to claim it so Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin missed a trick there, they could have claimed ownership and ruled over their own piece of Solar System.
The International Space Community know about this loophole and are currently running around trying to get nations to sign up to a Moon Agreement which will stop anyone just sticking a flag in the moon and claiming it but as the only signatories so far are 16 nations without a space program, the moon may one day be the next site for some of our more expansionist nations.
That said, next time the Moon is waxing (The Capital D Shape) and you can see the right hand side of it take a look towards the outer edge between 1 and 2 o'clock and just up and to the right of the Mare Crisium you will see a crater called Vestine and after staring at it in wonder send me a cheque because i own that and i charge to view it.
To prove it is mine i have a Lunar Land Deed of ownership from the Lunar Register courtesy of my family who decided what i needed was to own a piece of the land so they got me a hole in the ground, 240,000 miles away.
Legally, i know that what i actually have is a fancy piece of paper worth as much as a fancy piece of paper but unless NASA plan to land in it or someone builds a Hotel in it, for all intent and purposes it's mine and a lengthy course case to prove ownership shouldn't be an issue.
The Outer Space Treaty (1967) and The Moon Treaty (1979) states that: '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' which means that no nation can claim it but as the language is specific to national ownership, it doesn't stop an individual claiming part of it.
I argued this with my lawyer friend who agreed that there is nothing that expressly forbids individuals from owning land on the moon but any documentation that claims you own land on the moon is unenforceable, and no nation on the planet would recognise it but then again, if i were able to fly up to the moon and build a settlement there, it would be pretty difficult for anyone to stop me.
The ESA hopes to build an 'international village' on the Moon between 2020 and 2030 and NASA has plans of its own for a moon base while The Russian space agency (Roscosmos) is planning to build a lunar base, and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) is planning to build such a base so if any of them fancy a prime piece of lunar real estate in a desirable location with great views of the Earth, give me a call and we can negotiate.
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