Who Owns The Moon? The Story Of The Man Who Sold The Moon And Other Attempts To Privatize Space

1980, USA. An ordinary American suddenly declares himself… the owner of the Moon and starts selling lunar areas to anyone who wants them. It sounds like a plot from a sci-fi comedy, but what if we tell you this story is real?

In this article, you will find out who owns the Moon, whether it is possible to buy it, and what international law says about the ownership of celestial bodies. Let’s go, it will be interesting!

The Man Who Sold The… Moon

Does anyone own the Moon? Meet Dennis Hope. Not an astronaut, not a scientist, not a lawyer, but… an ordinary salesman of the used cars. One day, Hope was sitting in his car and looking at the bright disk of the Moon, towering over the sky of San Francisco. And then suddenly a seemingly crazy, but as it turned out later, a very profitable idea came into his mind. Hope carefully studied the “Outer Space Treaty” of 1967 (the one that regulates everything that happens outside the Earth) and, as it seemed to him, found a loophole in it. The treaty prohibits states from owning the Moon, but says nothing about individuals.

And Hope decided, why not, and … declared himself as the man who owns the Moon. Yes, simply like that, he declared it. He sent letters to the UN, the USA and the USSR, in which he declared his rights to the Moon and other planets of the Solar System (except Earth, of course). He deliberately chose such a broad “sphere of influence” so that his statement would look as absurd as possible, hoping that it would be simply ignored.

And it worked out! No one responded to his letters, and therefore no one officially denied his “rights”. After all, the Treaty did not specify how to respond to such statements. And then Hope founded the Lunar Embassy company and began selling areas on the Moon to anyone who wanted them. The price? Quite affordable –  several dozen dollars per acre.

Hope issued “ownership certificates” to the happy owners – a nice-looking piece of paper that “confirmed” their right to own a given area. Hope promised that someday, when the colonization of the Moon begins, these “certificates” will become documents with real legal force.

And do you know what? People willingly bought up lunar acres as a gift, for fun, or in the hope of future benefits. Among those who owns the Moon there are even former US presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter (though they were probably just given them as gifts). In reality, Hope created a market out of nothing, trading in something he didn’t own. And that’s the entire Moon, damn it! 

How Many Acres Is The Moon? 

The surface area of ​​the Moon is about 9,4 billion acres (about 38 million square kilometers, which is equal to four US territories or almost 160 territories of Great Britain). And this fact brings us to the main question: is Hope’s activity legal and what will happen to the Lunar Embassy certificates when active colonization of the Moon begins? Let’s figure it out.

Who Owns Space? What Does The Outer Space Treaty Say?

In theory, space does not belong to anyone. It is like the sea beyond the territorial waters of states: everyone can use it, but no one can say “it is mine!” But what happens in practice? To understand how legitimate the “lunar” and any other space deals are, we should turn to the international law.  

Outer Space Treaty, 1967 — the main and only universally recognized document regulating activities in space, says that:

1. Space, including the Moon, is the common heritage of the mankind. No country can declare it as its territory.
2. Space can be explored and used, but only peacefully and for the benefit of everyone. 
3. Placing nuclear weapons in space is prohibited (Someone, please remind Russia of this, author’s note).
4. States are responsible for everything their citizens and companies do in space. 

Even though the Outer Space Treaty has been signed by most of the world’s countries engaged into the space activities, it is more of a memorandum than a strict regulatory document, because there is no single international body with the authority to enforce its provisions. In other words, the maximum that a violator of the Outer Space Treaty risks is condemnation and loss of international authority. Well, that’s a kind of punishment.

Who Owns The Rights To Mine The Moon?

If everything is more or less clear with space, it is huge, there is enough space for everyone, fly wherever you want, but with Moon mining, Mars, asteroids and wherever else they are going to extract them, everything is much more complicated. The Outer Space Treaty does not explain whether it is possible to extract lunar resources at all, and who will own them.

The Moon Agreement, ratified by the UN in 1984, says that the Moon and its resources are the common heritage of mankind, and offers to create an international body to manage the extraction of minerals. However, the problem is that very few countries have signed the Moon Agreement (less than 20 as of 2023), and among them there are no major space countries, such as the United States, China and Russia. Therefore, its real power is close to zero.

In 2020, the United States created the Artemis Accords – a set of principles of who owns the Moon within the new lunar program “Artemis” (Apollo 2.0). They concern resource extraction, the creation of “safety zones” on the Moon, and the exchange of information. Artemis Records was signed by the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, and the UAE, but ignored by Russia and China.

Thus, opinions as for the rights on the extraction of lunar resources and their ownership are divided:

• “Common heritage”: Some people believe that lunar resources are for everyone, and it is necessary to create the international organization that would control everything and divide fairly.
• “First come, first served”: Others (mainly private companies and some countries) say that whoever first starts extracting is the owner. It is the same as with fish in the sea.
• “We have our own laws”: Some countries have passed laws allowing their companies to extract everything they find on the Moon. But not everyone agrees with this.

To sum it up, while the modern space race is in progress, there is no consensus. And the debate about who owns the Moon will only get hotter, as the number of lunar mining companies grows every day.

Is The Moon Owned By The US?

The fact that the USA was the first country landed to the Moon does not give them ownership of it. They stuck the flag in, collected some regolith, and that’s it. By the way, speaking of the flag. Is the US flag still on the Moon? To be more exact, there were six of them. Probably, but who cares now?

Does Tom Cruise Own Part Of The Moon?

According to rumors, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and some other celebrities really own part of the Moon. But it doesn’t matter at all. “Certificates” from Lunar Embassy and similar companies that began to appear after Hope’s successful case are no more than souvenirs that have no legal force. Just like certificates on stars. So proving the right to own a Moon area for Tom Cruise and other “moon owners” is mission impossible. In simple words, they will be ignored, just as Hope’s statements were once ignored.

Who Else Tried To “Privatize” Space?  

The story of Dennis Hope is perhaps the most resonant, but it is not the first and not the only one. Does anyone own the Moon besides Hope? Imagine yes!

Protest Of Genoves

In 1953, the Chilean poet, lawyer, and painter Genoves (Jenaro Gajardo Vera) visited a notary in his hometown of Talca to register the Moon as his property. He did this, as he claimed, to prevent the United States and the Soviet Union from taking the Moon for themselves, and so that Chile, through him, could contribute to space exploration. The notary, to his surprise, found no reason to refuse and registered a “deed of ownership” stating that Jenaro Gajardo Vera was “the owner of the Moon, a satellite of the Earth, 3,475 kilometers in diameter, since 1854” (Gajardo Vera’s ancestors had allegedly owned the Moon since 1854, although there was, of course, no evidence to support this). 

This story has become part of Chilean folklore, and there is even a legend that US President Richard Nixon asked Genoves for permission to land “Apollo-11” on the Moon. And Genoves gave his permission.

Martin Jurgens And Mars 

In 1997, German Martin Jurgens stated that Mars belonged to him and his family. His arguments were quite unusual: he claimed to be a descendant of the Prussian King Frederick the Great (Frederick II). According to his words, in 1756, King Frederick gave Mars as a gift to one of his confidants (who turned out to be Jurgens’ ancestor), and since then the planet has been inherited in his family. He even presented some “documents” confirming his ownership. Jurgens reached out to NASA and the German government, asking for the recognition of his rights, but was refused.

Gregory Nemitz And “Asteriod 433 Eros” 

In 2000, the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft launched by NASA landed on asteroid 433 Eros. Gregory Nemitz, an American entrepreneur and owner of Orbital Development company, claimed that asteroid 433 Eros was his private property and… billed NASA for “parking” the craft on his asteroid. The amount was symbolic – $20 (a cent per year of “parking” for 200 years).

Nemitz based his claims on the fact that he allegedly registered this asteroid as his property even before the landing of NEAR Shoemaker, using the existing (though not legally binding for extraterrestrial objects) procedure for registering rights to ownerless property. NASA, of course, refused to pay, citing the “Outer Space Treaty” of 1967.

This Moon Is Mine! Don’t Enter!

On the one hand, the stories of Dennis Hope and other “space owners” are a funny curiosity, and on the other, a reason to think about serious things. International law gives a clear answer to the question of who owns the Moon: the Moon is nobody’s, it is for everyone. However, questions about how to regulate activities on the Moon and other celestial bodies that humanity plans to colonize remain open. And with the new space race in full swing, these questions will become increasingly relevant.

For now, “lunar areas” are just fun, which enterprising people have learned to sell well. But who knows what battles may play out for lunar and Martian territories in the future… After all, history shows us that human greed is as limitless as space.

References And Additional Information:

• Who owns the Moon? Royal Museums Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/who-owns-moon 
• Who owns space? https://www.spacecentre.co.uk/news/space-now-blog/who-owns-space/ 
• The ‘New’ Space Race: The Fourth Frontier https://intpolicydigest.org/the-platform/the-new-space-race-the-fourth-frontier/ 
• Moon Exploration – NASA Science, https://science.nasa.gov/moon/exploration/ 
• The New Space Race https://explore.britannica.com/explore/space/the-new-space-race/ 
• Can a country or a business claim ownership of the moon, meteorites or even space?  https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2023/01/can-a-country-or-a-business-claim-ownership-of-the-moon–meteori 
• Legally who owns the moon? Space law expert, Professor Frans von der Dunk explains https://www.talksonlaw.com/briefs/who-owns-the-moon 
• Can someone own the moon? https://science.howstuffworks.com/own-the-moon.htm