How much to buy a piece of the moon?

[RandMcnally]

On Conan, there was a guy who claims to own the moon and the planets of the solar system. He’s selling land. How much to buy an acre? And, can he do that?

[sailor]

*Originally posted by RandMcnally *
And, can he do that?

Of course he can but you’d be a fool to buy from him because I’ll give you twice the acres for the same price.

[kanicbird]

If you can get there, you can just stake out whatever land you want, nobody will ever bother you.

[Odinoneeye]

I have a crater named after me on the moon already. It’s mine. He can’t have it. I’ll go on Conan too if I have to!

[Shodan]

There was a guy selling acres of land on the moon when I was in college. I bought one, for a dollar.

Wonder if it is the same guy.

Regards,
Shodan

[Yossarian]

Between $10,000 to $30,000/gram:

http://www.nature-source.com/nwa032.htm
http://209.238.151.128/nwa482sale.htm
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2185888686&category=3239

[Gjorp]

Don’t make fun of RandMcnally. I can’t remember his name, but I saw the same guy he’s talking about. His claim seemed to be a little more legitimate since he filed it with the UN.

It’s a shame I can’t remember his name, I could probably dig up a little more on him.

[Gjorp]

Okay, I basically guessed at the guy’s name and it turned out I was right. His name is Dennis Hope.

These two sites say his claims are legit;
http://www.scifidimensions.com/Feb01/dennishope.htm
http://www.clickstoday.com/clickstoday-17-20030725ThreeThingsYouCanLearnfromtheLunarRealEstateBoom.html

And this site says his claims are bogus;
http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/internetfraud/story/0,23008,3369944,00.html

However, I don’t know anything about the credibility of any of these sites.

[Shade]

Does this pass the ‘yeah, right’ test?

I mean, I don’t know what the legal situation is, but if NASA lands a probe on Joe Schmoe’s plot, and he tells them to pay $xxx rent, do you really think they will? What if NASA finds a way to make moon exploration profitable?

IMHO whatever the law says, the ownership of the solar system will be whatever the major countries decide it is. If enough people buy from this guy it may become politic to recognise their claims and/or compensate them, but I don’t think we’re there yet.

OTOH, it’s a sweet deal he’s got worked out. I wish I’d thought of it

[Exapno_Mapcase]

From Gjorp’s link:

I was laughing hard until I realized that Mr. Hope had sold over 300 million acres of land to more than two million people. I got out my calculator and figured Mr. Hope’s income three times before I would accept that he had earned nearly $9 billion dollars! Do the math yourself: 300 million multiplied by $29.95 equals $8,985,000,000!

And yet he continues on. Does money meaning nothing to this man!?

[Schnitte]

Also from Gjorp’s links:

In 1980, Dennis Hope sent letters to the United Nations, the United States government and the government of the former Soviet Union, informing them that he was officially claiming ownership of all planetary and lunar surfaces (aside from the Earth) in our solar system. He even gave them the opportunity to respond if they had objections, and as crazy as it sounds, he hasn’t heard a word from any of them since.

Now isn’t that surprising? Sounds crazy, but they just didn’t answer!
Forget about anything you ever heard about Carter’s presidency. His one fatal flaw was that he simply forgot dropping Hope some lines.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

And remember these are links that - as crazy as it sounds - Gjorp says support the guy.

[Whack-a-Mole]

I don’t think he has a chance. Can he sell you a piece of the moon? Sure. Can you enforce your ownership of that purchase? Never. In essence people ‘buying’ a piece of the moon are just giving their money away (see below…bolding mine).

Article 11

1. The moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind, which finds its expression in the provisions of this Agreement and in particular in paragraph 5 or this article.

**2. The moon is not subject to national appropriation by any claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. **

3. Neither the surface nor the subsurface of the moon, nor any part thereof or natural resources in place, shall become property of any State, international intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, national organization or non-governmental entity or of any natural person. The placement of personnel, space vehicles, equipment, facilities, stations and installations on or below the surface of the moon, including structures connected with its surface or subsurface, shall not create a right of ownership over the surface or the subsurface of the moon or any areas thereof. The foregoing provisions are without prejudice to the international regime referred to in paragraph 5 of this article.

SOURCE: AGREEMENT GOVERNING THE ACTIVITIES OF STATES ON THE MOON AND OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES (1979) ENTERED INTO FORCE: 11 July 1984

[Whack-a-Mole]

I should add the following to note that this guy can’t sell land on other planets either (at least not in a way that is enforceable).

From the same link I provided above:

Article 1

1. The provisions of this Agreement relating to the moon shall also apply to other celestial bodies within the solar system, other than the earth, except in so far as specific legal norms enter into force with respect to any of these celestial bodies.

2. For the purposes of this Agreement reference to the moon shall include orbits around or other trajectories to or around it.

[Tuckerfan]

This guy’s gotten a good thrashing at Bad Astronomy.

The gist of it is that he’s based his claim of ownership on a 150 year old US law, which is meaningless in relation to the Moon. So he’s a scammer, pure and simple.

[Nanoda]

If anyone’s still considering it, please read this, especially section 9. (A link I got from here, so you can count on it being legit. ;)) As for Mr. Hope, pul-leeze. Upon preview, Tuckerfan’s got a link that covers it.

[ClayC852]

I wonder if we ever contact aliens on one of Hope’s interstellar estates, he’ll tell them “Excuse me sir, but I’m gonna have to ask you to vacate my property or I’ll call the police.” What a dummy.

[Napier]

Wouldn’t the price of anything lunar depend alot on whether it was to be picked up versus delivered?