Lunar Property Rights Debate Advancing

'Possession is nine-tenths of the law' is a popular saying, but would it pertain to the first private Moon explorer? From resource claims to land ownership, the legal quandary surrounding owning property in space and on the Moon remains a contentious topic, yet one that must be resolved to allow the commercial expansion into the cislunar frontier. The issue was discussed last week at the Yahoo! Brickhouse in San Francisco CA. Steve Durst of Space Age Publishing Company and William Marshall of NASA Ames Research Center led a discussion on 'Who Owns the Moon?', presenting various views on extraterrestrial property rights from industry, United Nations, and the US Government. Two extreme views on the subject are the Moon Treaty of 1979, which bans any ownership of outer space or planetary property by any organization or person, and the Lunar Embassy, which has claimed ownership of the Moon and sells lunar lots commercially under the auspices of the Galactic Government. The Moon Treaty was never ratified by the USA or other major spacefaring nations. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty was signed by the USA and about 100 other countries, and it prohibits any government from owning the Moon or other celestial bodies – but not enterprises or individuals. With the International Lunar Observatory, Google Lunar X Prize and Lunar Lander Challenge spurring private lunar vehicle development, the matter of owning a piece of the Moon could soon end up in international courts if it is not resolved within this decade. (Credit: NASA, SPC)

India's first Moon mission Chandrayaan-1 and China's third human spaceflight Shenzhou 7 are both scheduled to launch in October following the historic Olympic Games in Beijing. For India, the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter (TR) marks its entrance into the modern-day Moon race, joining the ranks of the USA, China, Japan, Russia and Europe. The Moon probe will carry several domestic and international payloads, including an impactor, to study the topographic and chemical composition of Earth's natural satellite. India plans to follow the mission with the Chandrayaan-2 lander / rover sometime after 2010. For the People's Republic of China (PRC), the launch of Shenzhou 7 furthers its stature among global space leaders, as the mission will carry 3 yuhangyuan (astronauts) and feature the nation's first autonomous rendezvous and first spacewalk (TL). China, Russia and the USA are the only 3 nations to have successfully launched a human being into outer space. For the PRC, the spaceflight will cap a historic year that also saw the successful deployment of its first lunar orbiter Chang'e-1 and the hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. China, India, the USA, Europe, Russia and Japan have declared interest in sending humans to the Moon in the coming decades, perhaps in cooperation to establish a permanent international lunar outpost. India is planning to begin its human spaceflight program by 2015 using a variant of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. (Credit: NASA, ISRO)