The space settlement prize

The other way the U.S. could provide such a "Space Settlement Prize" is through establishing a system of recognized property rights in space, such as that proposed by the Space Settlement Initiative. That way would be less conventional but would have the advantage of not requiring any appropriation of government money.

If the private sector could be provided a powerful incentive to finance and build a regular space transportation system and permanent lunar base, concerns about a long-range space program overly burdening the taxpayer would evaporate. Corporations like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and others already have the technical capability. All they’ve needed is a sufficient profit motivation.

+ Read Article (The Space Review)

Races, beauty contests, franchises, and build-out requirements for lunar property

We have a big batch of real estate sitting in the sky just waiting to be divvied up by humanity and settled. The Aldridge Commission called for property rights. Whether and how property rights are accomplished could be the difference between a settled Moon and an unsettled Moon.

+ Read Editorial (The Space Review)

A better way to promote space settlement in our lifetimes

"Among other things, the Outer Space Treaty (and several other international agreements) clearly prohibit any claims of national sovereignty on the Moon or Mars, etc. Therefore no nation can claim, grant or sell land in outer space. I’ve spent two decades researching this subject and can assure you there is not one expert out there who thinks there is any chance the US would ever withdraw from the Outer Space Treaty, because it has so many good features, like banning nuclear weapons in space."

+ Read Editorial (The Space Review)

US public land policy and applications for the Moon and Mars

"United States public land policy was effective at settling the American West. There are important applications of this policy available for settlement of the Moon and Mars. Land policy was simple, yet effective. There was some evolution of policy as goals changed and some mistakes made that can today be corrected with better laws and technology."

+ Read Article (The Space Review)

Space privatization: road to freedom

"Space law and achievement as embodied in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty are stuck in the 1960s. Without amendment, the treaty is stuck without property rights for the Moon and the planets. Our achievement is stuck with an ISS that really does not improve much on Skylab or Mir. Our lift capability is backsliding. Our capability to get to the Moon has disappeared maybe to be reclaimed some day. So it may not be such a big deal to have to give up the ISS due to orbital debris because the public benefit from the station is so low."

+ Read Editorial (The Space Review)

Nemitz Appeals Decision to Dismiss Claim on Eros

"On November 3, 2023 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 2020, 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, 2021, 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.

Property rights and space commercialization

"It’s time to start thinking about commercialization and colonization of the Moon and Mars. Fifty years after the Wright Brothers, we had global airlines. Fifty years after the invention of the integrated circuit we have a trillion-dollar-a-year industry. Cell phones alone account for tens of billions of dollars of government auction revenue. We need to make the regulatory environment for 50 years after Apollo now. An American private property regime and capitalist economic system can encourage space commercialization and colonization. A utopian property regime and a communitarian economic system will keep out commercialization and leave colonization and exploration in the realm of governments."

+ Read Article (The Space Review)