A front-page article in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle provides a detailed overview of some of the issues associated with the field of space law. Keay Davidson talks with many of the major players involved in the field, from Greg Nemitz (who tried and failed to get NASA to pay a “landing fee” for its NEAR spacecraft on Eros, an asteroid he has claimed), to lawyers Rosanna Sattler, Wayne White, and Jim Dunstan. Much of the focus of the article is on property rights in space, perhaps the hottest topic in space law in recent years.
The article also notes that there will be a seminar on property rights in space, particularly as they apply to settlement of the Moon, on October 26 in Washington. Speaking will be Dunstan as well as Klaus Heiss, a long-time advocate of lunar settlement (as evidenced by a new project his organization, High Frontier, has been pushing, Jamestown on the Moon.)
The discussion over space property rights has far more bearing to the commercialization of space than any silly squabble over how or how not to go back to the Moon.
High Frontier
Demanding our nation be protected
from ballistic missile attack
High Frontier is the nation’s leading non-government authority on missile defense issues [….]
… oh *that* High Frontier
The discussion over space property rights has far more bearing to the commercialization of space than any silly squabble over how or how not to go back to the Moon.
I am in total agreement.
The dicussion over space property rights isn’t going to cost the US taxpayers $100+ B.
But pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, right?