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Extraterrestrial Real Estate for Sale

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-want-mare-imbris dept.

Tom Mulcahy pointed us over to The Lunar Embassy. Yes, that's right. You can purchase real estate on the Moon, Io, Venus, Mars, and, apparently the Universe. Ah, the beauty of capitalism.

3 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Read the small print by vik · · Score: 5

    Uh, guys, isn't this a novelty item?

    Nobody owns the moon. Ownership is prohibited by a few treaties. Details of the legal aspects of owning the moon can be found off the Artemis Society homepage, specifically in the Frequently Raised Objections section.

    As an aside, TransOrbital Inc. is going to be taking pictures of the moon using a telescope in lunar orbit, so people will be able to have a picture of "their" plot if they choose.

    Vik :v)

  2. What time zone? by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 5
    The killer question:
    What time zone will it be in?

    There is a tendancy to use UTC in space applications; if people start dispersing to the moon, this provides some time delay issues in communications that would result in sync issues; heading further afield to Mars would be similarly disruptive to synchronization of activities.

    It's possible that one might get meaningful information out of a GPS unit from the moon, albeit with extremely screwy coordinates as they'd be relative to the earth. (Mind you, it is probable that consumer units would shut down as you'd be moving more than 999mph relative to earth's surface...)

    Determining time/location will provide opportunities for new fields in vCards and for a bunch of new RFCs. I thought there was one on this, but in querying the archives, I seem to be mistaken...

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  3. Novelty value only by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5
    The Lunar Embassy states that their certificate has "novelty value only" and is not to be taken as a legal deed. Lots of people don't read the fine print.

    Bruce

    --
    Bruce Perens.