Lunar Property Rights - A Moon Base Business Case

[danhezee]

I found this interesting article about using lunar land claims as a source of revenue for a lunar base.

http://spacebusinessblog.blogspot.com/2 ... -base.html

some interesting points from the article:

Establish a Lunar base and US courts will recognize your claim for up to 4% of its surface (600,000 contiguous sq. miles, 384M acres).

Sell the land claims to people on earth (defended by US courts) to immediately recoup investments in the base.

Maintain your claim to this real estate by sustaining the base indefinitely with “regular” missions to and from the base.

Revenue from land recognitions provides incentive to START a base

Significant Revenues are needed to SUSTAIN a base. The land grants provide a base about a decade of operations to develop multiple $$ billions in annual revenue.

Launch pace will be a challenge - can the US handle a launch to a moon base every other Month?

 

[Shpaget]

And when did US Government become the owner of the Moon to be able to give it away and collect taxes on its sale?

 

[danhezee]

And when did US Government become the owner of the Moon to be able to give it away and collect taxes on its sale?

Looks like someone didnt read the article I linked too :roll:

 

[Booban]

I don't get it. I read the article, though not the actual bill.

Why would they recognize your claim, and why just 4% of it and why would anyone want to buy parts of your 'claim', of which only 4% is actually sellable since the rest is not recognized.

The real issue is here:

Unless Government, Corporate, and Tourist Customers contribute significantly to base revenue, the base will need to develop significant exportable revenue sources (usual suspects like water mining, solar power farms, etc.) to become self-sustaining.

Oh really? Simple eh?

 

[danhezee]

I don't get it. I read the article, though not the actual bill.

Why would they recognize your claim, and why just 4% of it and why would anyone want to buy parts of your 'claim', of which only 4% is actually sellable since the rest is not recognized.

The real issue is here:

Unless Government, Corporate, and Tourist Customers contribute significantly to base revenue, the base will need to develop significant exportable revenue sources (usual suspects like water mining, solar power farms, etc.) to become self-sustaining.

Oh really? Simple eh?

You bring up some valid concerns that I share with you. Owning 4% of the moon is an arbitrary number, as is selling the land of $100 an acre. I would think an auction of predetermined plot sizes would be better for the initial land grab.

The overall idea is to let private enterprise establish a base (maybe an actual spaceport), with some kind of legal responsibility to maintain the port/base for a given period of time, and let them sell the surrounding land.

The most likely spot to establish a port would be at the poles... mountains bathed in eternal sunshine and craters masked in eternal darkness. Both the mountains and the craters are valuable to researchers and explorers. They would go for the highest bids. The cheaper but still valuable land would be routes in between the mountains and the craters. That's where I believe local lunar enterprises would spur innovation and thrive.

 

[DarkenedOne]

I found this interesting article about using lunar land claims as a source of revenue for a lunar base.

http://spacebusinessblog.blogspot.com/2 ... -base.html

some interesting points from the article:

Establish a Lunar base and US courts will recognize your claim for up to 4% of its surface (600,000 contiguous sq. miles, 384M acres).

Sell the land claims to people on earth (defended by US courts) to immediately recoup investments in the base.

Maintain your claim to this real estate by sustaining the base indefinitely with “regular” missions to and from the base.

Revenue from land recognitions provides incentive to START a base

Significant Revenues are needed to SUSTAIN a base. The land grants provide a base about a decade of operations to develop multiple $$ billions in annual revenue.

Launch pace will be a challenge - can the US handle a launch to a moon base every other Month?

danhezee

I think you do not understand that land ownership is a human construction. In order to have recognizable land ownership system one must have a governing body that divides up the land, assign ownership, and enforces those right against others within the system and those from other countries.

The moon has no governing body to have any type of land ownership. Anything from any current Earth government saying that anyone owns anything is worthless because they simply cannot enforce it.

That is why we need to get to the moon first. Whoever gets there first will own the entire moon. They will be the only ones able to enforce any land or resource claims.

 

[danhezee]

danhezee

I think you do not understand that land ownership is a human construction. In order to have recognizable land ownership system one must have a governing body that divides up the land, assign ownership, and enforces those right against others within the system and those from other countries.

The moon has no governing body to have any type of land ownership. Anything from any current Earth government saying that anyone owns anything is worthless because they simply cannot enforce it.

That is why we need to get to the moon first. Whoever gets there first will own the entire moon. They will be the only ones able to enforce any land or resource claims.

That is what the bill is intended to do. It allows the usa to recognize private entity land claims, it also clearly states in:

section 4 part 7
The U.S. pledges to defend recognized extraterrestrial properties
section 9 part 1
the State Department is hereby instructed to try to negotiate a new multi-lateral treaty, or bi-lateral treaties with individual like-minded nations
section 6 part 1
The private entity that establishes the first such settlement on the Moon and meets the other conditions of this law shall be entitled to receive full and immediate U.S. recognition and certification of its claim of ownership of up to 600,000 square miles

So as soon as the bill is ratified the USA can divide up the land and assign ownership and immediately begins to urge other nations to follow suit while defending any recognized claims.

Furthermore the outer space treaty states no government can claim any celestial body.

When you say “we” do you mean private enterprise, which this bill is intended for? Or government agency which means the usa would have to either break an existing treaty or ratified a new one?

here is the link for the actual treaty. http://www.orbitec.com/steckler_study/draft_act.html

p.s. I do think 600,000 square miles is a little excessive