FAA Could Extend Property Rights On the Moon Through Regulation

MarkWhittington writes When the Outer Space Treaty which, among other things, forbade claims of national sovereignty on other worlds, was signed and ratified by the United States in 1967, little thought was given to the idea of private property rights. Now, with companies like Moon Express and Bigelow Aerospace contemplating private lunar operations, that question has become a concern. According to Reuters, the FAA may have discovered a way to enforce private property rights on the moon without, it is hoped, violating the Outer Space Treaty. The idea is to extend the FAA's current launch licensing authority to cover commercial activities on the moon. The agency would license, for example, a helium 3 mining facility, giving the company running it control over it and as much adjoining territory as necessary to run the operation. The size of that territory, for which a particular company would hold property and mineral rights, could be considerable.

Comments

FAA could only *limit* US launched rockets

[Overzeetop]

FAA can do anything they fucking want; nobody else in the world will give a shit. Do you really think if the Russian, Indian, or Chinese equivalent of the FAA pulled this that the US would take it in stride? Of course not. We'd claim they still don't have any right to reserve property on the moon.

And it would come down to who had the guns and is willing to use them. Which, to be honest, is all property rights really is anyway.

Re:FAA? When did the Moon become part of the USA?

[CrimsonAvenger]

I thought Russia's SCAA (State Civil Aviation Administration) might have a say as well. Mainly because they are the -only- country able to actually make a manned moon landing these days.

I'm curious - what makes you think the Russians are capable of making a manned moon landing, given that they've never done so, and don't actually have a launcher capable of doing so?

It's not like Energia is still being made or anything, even if it matched the performance of Saturn V, which it didn't.

At present, noone has the capability of making a manned moon landing, though China is developing a booster in the Saturn V range, as is the USA.

Re:He-3 mining?

[Svartalf]

SMH... You do know what He3 is, right? It's a Helium Isotope.

Helium's melting point

Absolute Zero

Helium freezes at just a degree above Absolute Zero. The dark side of the moon's entirely too warm for frozen He3. It's sequestered in the regolith of the Moon's Surface and is constantly replenished over time by the Solar Wind.

I guess I shouldn't expect better...it is /. after all.