Lunar Real Estate

Che · 04-04-2010, 11:20 AM

As some of you may or may not know, an astronaut that was part of Apollo 17 (I think, correct if wrong) named Dennis Hope currently has a job selling lunar real estate. He sells land on the moon.

Realistically, I think this is just basically for fun. Rich people can buy a piece of land on the moon for bragging rights. Pretend you're talking to a girl at a club you just met. "Yeah, I own land on the moon." "OMG no wai!" That kind of thing.

I think this is so wrong, and it kind of offends me. How can a guy sell land on the moon when he doesn't even own it? You get a title deed, etc. But the land isn't really yours. Are you ever going to visit your land?

What's going to happen when people are handed their lunar deeds down from their grandparents when we actually probably can go to the moon, and people want to start claiming land that they don't actually own?

Or does anyone own some land on the moon or know someone who does and there's some fine fine print that says you don't actually own it?

Does the US actually own the entire moon, legally? Who's to say? There's a ton of space programs in so many different countries now. Are we eventually going to go to war over land on the moon? Anyone else see this shit being inevitable given our nature?

**Dodie16** · 04-04-2010, 02:05 PM

I have never heard of this, but apparently the guy had been in the business of selling "lunar real estate" since 1990, and he can do so because he "found a loophole in international law" to where he can do this.

Also this:

He allocates land to be sold by closing his eyes and randomly pointing to a map of the Moon.

Source: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Making a mint out of the Moon

I don't know if I'm more concerned for him, or the people that are actually buying into this sort of thing. I think that we should look into making THIS world better, instead of finding ways to go and colonize some other planet. That, to me, seems just like people are running away from the problem.

I don't think there's going to be a problem about future generations fighting over who owns what land on the moon because they have a "land deed" for it. There's a caption under one of the pictures in the article that reads "No government has yet recognized the lunar sales as legally binding", so basically, it is just bragging that you "own" a piece of moon property.

**Block** · 04-04-2010, 03:15 PM

Sounds like a Ponzi Scheme to me, and will most likely not be recognized by any government when / if we end up actually on the moon.

Che · 04-04-2010, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Dodie16

I have never heard of this, but apparently the guy had been in the business of selling "lunar real estate" since 1990, and he can do so because he "found a loophole in international law" to where he can do this.

Also this:

Source: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Making a mint out of the Moon

I don't know if I'm more concerned for him, or the people that are actually buying into this sort of thing. I think that we should look into making THIS world better, instead of finding ways to go and colonize some other planet. That, to me, seems just like people are running away from the problem.

I don't think there's going to be a problem about future generations fighting over who owns what land on the moon because they have a "land deed" for it. There's a caption under one of the pictures in the article that reads "No government has yet recognized the lunar sales as legally binding", so basically, it is just bragging that you "own" a piece of moon property.

Yeah, one of the other astronauts from the Apollo missions (same one I think) wants to go to the moon and harvest helium 3 or something that supposedly could power a city full of a million people for an entire year with only one ton of it.

And I guess that caption kills the part where people are going to be fighting over the land, since they don't actually own it.

**Unknown Entity** · 04-04-2010, 05:22 PM

Don't people have better things to waste money on? I wouldn't be impressed if someone came up to me in a club and told me they owned an acre of land on the moon - nor would I be impressed if they owned the whole thing!

Also, I can imagine customs being a living nightmare to take a holiday there.

Seriously... some people are just incredible. There are people starving in many countries, and rich folk want to buy a piece of land on the moon so they can get some drunk bimbo swooning over them in a club. =/

**Xithor** · 04-04-2010, 05:33 PM

How much money is he charging for this ludicrous scheme he's come up with? There always does seem to be a loop hole in every system that people try to take advantage of and this is just another example. I can't believe people would spend their hard earned money to buy a piece of property that they can't even visit yet. Not until I am physically standing on the moon and walking around the piece of property that I am looking to buy would I even contemplate buying it. Doubt I'll have that much dough anyways haha

Che · 04-04-2010, 06:37 PM

I think it's supposed to be like a cute gift. Like for Valentines Day or something.

**Andromeda** · 04-04-2010, 07:37 PM

The only thing I can think of is how it was in the early colonization days in the Americas. The first people to come over didn't own the land, they just claimed it for themselves. As people explored and mapped Amercias they took "claim" of the land and thus able to sell it to someone. Even though no one had it before other than the Indians and they didn't really ask for permission. Fortunately, the moon has no life so no native beings can really claim ownership. So I guess technically as during the exploration days, the US could claim it all as their territory since no one else has been there, as far as we know. Which means it would be up to the government to hand out land deeds.

Isn't that sort of how it worked during the move west after the purchase of Louisiana and later territories? The government just sold land to private citizens.

I don't really think the individual that lands there actually claims the land. But hey, we haven't built a moon base or anything yet. So not a lot of it is going to mean anything, especially if NASA keeps getting budget cuts.

**Polk** · 04-04-2010, 07:54 PM

WE GOIN' TO THE MOTHA FIZZUCKIN' MOON.

I'm not really sure how that's related to the topic, but it's funny, and about the moon, so I feel like my job is done here. The only thing to really say here is that it's totally a scam and some people are dumb as shit for falling for it. The end.

I'm totally doing a moon dance right now, by the way.

**Xithor** · 04-04-2010, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Che

I think it's supposed to be like a cute gift. Like for Valentines Day or something.

Do you mean like naming a star? Because yea that's cool and you'll never get to visit your star but a piece of land on the moon? Idk about that, I guess by comparison it'd be the same thing though

**Taco-Calamitous** · 04-04-2010, 11:26 PM

Harvesting helium 3 on the moon, eh? I just watched the movie "Moon" last night, in which a man has been stationed on the moon for three years maintaining a mining base for helium 3. Didn't realize the idea was actually being pursued to some degree in real life; that's kinda cool.

I would go to the moon, totally. I'd harvest that helium 3, or be the janitor-whatever position I could get. That would probably be kick ass for a while. Or at least pay really well.

As for the actual topic-that sounds pretty lame, for reasons others have stated already. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom