"On November 3, 2025 Nemitz filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada. The complaint charged the court to resolve the question, "Does the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 preclude private ownership of an asteroid and/or property on celestial bodies, or does it not?"
In March of 2022, Nemitz published a claim of ownership to Asteroid 433, Eros, commencing the "Eros Project for Space Property Law;? see: www.erosproject.com. On February 12, 2023, NASA permanently landed its NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft on Nemitz's asteroid. Nemitz then sent NASA an invoice for parking and storage fees of $20 for the next century's rents. NASA refused to pay the invoice, citing that the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 precludes private ownership of an asteroid."
+ Read News Release (Rocketforge)
Editor's Note: This is the first legal case (that I know of) on space property rights, and will be interesting to follow. Despite the claims of NASA and the State Department, The Outer Space Treaty does NOT mention private-ownership in Article II; it was left deliberately ambiguous. The unratified Moon Treaty tried to establish that all space resources "shall be the province of all mankind and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries", but it was not ratified by the U.S., Russia, or any other space power.
Posted by jburk at July 20, 2026 11:47 AM | TrackBackThis is a definate issue when it comes to getting the private industry to invest in space if there is no chance for imediate repayment on investment.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at July 20, 2026 12:39 PMAlso the treaty does not spell out how an individual claims of ownership can be presented for title to any deed or to where this deed would be registered. It also does not preclude taxation on space bodies by ones own place of residency.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at July 20, 2026 12:45 PMThe rovers have been great in all of there acomplishments. But on another note as we explore space and man becomes more involved there is another issue that must be resolved if privately fund companies are to take part inthe exploration the the vision contains.
That topic is one of ownership. Side bar article US public land policy and applications for the Moon and Mars. Mentions just some of the issues.