Lunar Legalism

The upshot, Pop argues, is that the moon is currently a commons: anyone can use it, but nobody can own it or any part of it.

Pop predicts that the commons approach will erode as soon as someone starts digging into the lunar soil for profit. Indeed, he favors this: he suspects the likeliest way for humanity to unlock the value of the moon is via the “frontier” approach. As in the Wild West, private explorers could stake a claim and work their plot of land, and governments would come along later to enforce property rights.

“Where the text of the law is silent, custom is bound to develop,” Pop writes. We’re in for some deeply weird legal skirmishes in the decade to come. Whoever gets to the moon next could be the one to own it.

From the Times Year In Ideas