Orbdev Files US Federal Suit Over Asteroid Claim
chongo writes "Orbital
Development has
filed
legal action against the United States by filing a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment in Federal Court.
After NASA's NEAR
probe landed
on the
asteroid
433 Eros,
Gregory W. Nemitz,
who
claims
to have owned the asteroid since the 3rd of March 2000,
sent NASA an $20 invoice for the
first 100 years of parking and storage fees.
NASA told him to "pound
sand".
OrbDev's
Eros
Project seeks to promote their ludicrous ideas about property rights in
space."
Valentine ends up the sole inheritor of his mother's space-drive engine and the surface of the martian world (due to squatters rights IIRC - IANAL).
A large part of the book is about the governments attempts to take possession of these assets... hence the original poster was correct in his analysis.
Not to say that "The man who sold the moon" is not also applicable in this context, only that it does not preclude SIASL.
Can you "grock" it??
Q.
Insert Signature Here