Can You Buy Land on the Moon?

Can you actually purchase land on the Moon? The fact that you are reading this article means that you have either been to some site which offers lunar land at very low prices or landed here just out of curiosity. Curiosity always gets the better of us and no matter how ridiculous a business proposition people make, this one tops them all. I have heard of people being sold the Eiffel tower, the Statue of Liberty, but this one is ingenious and outrageous at the same time.

When I asked myself, whether it's possible to purchase real estate on the Moon, immediately the verdict came in, 'No way, are you kidding me?'. Our brains are usually equipped with a built-in, 'crap' detector, which immediately tells us to dismiss such 'ludicrous' propositions.

However, it is not the nature of a trained scientific mind to dismiss anything without reasoning and exploring a question out. So, let us turn off our instant crap detector and try to systematically analyze whether the claims made by this, so-called, 'Lunar Embassy' or 'Lunar Federation' make sense. Let us judge every claim made by them.

Claim 1: "United Nations 1967 Outer Space Treaty Forbids States from Owning Extra Terrestrial Lunar Property"

Truth: Yes, there indeed is a 1967 outer space treaty issued by the United Nations that forbids extraterrestrial land ownership by states. The organizations which ask you to buy property on the Moon base the validity of their proposition on a loophole in this treaty, which does not expressly forbid 'individuals' from owning lunar realty.

There is another treaty by the United Nations (UN) called the 'International Moon Treaty', which came into force in 1984, which expressly forbids private ownership of extraterrestrial property. Only 13 nations had signed it by 2008.

Firstly, jurisdiction of the United Nations law or any other national law ends here on Earth. Since when have treaties by United Nations been taken seriously by any of the superpowers? A loophole in the treaty about 'individual' ownership of lunar realty, doesn't mean it gives the right to any random individual on the street to claim ownership on extraterrestrial land and if anybody does so, the claim would be baseless.

Claim 2: "The Money Collected through Selling Moon Real Estate Goes to Space Exploration."

Truth: Firstly, rather than 'Moon Real Estate', it should be called 'Moon Fictional Estate'. How can one sell something which one doesn't even own? It just goes on becoming more and more absurd. Secondly, there is no proven evidence of this money going to any private space exploration program that can afford to place a man on the Moon.

I guess, any more claims made, are not even worth being examined, as you will agree with me. So, my personal verdict is that this offer of buying land on the Moon can be safely dismissed as a 'loony' idea.

However, though a hoax it may be, it is a sign of a conflict which may arise in the future when man colonizes the Moon. We have been fighting wars for land on Earth since ancient times and there is no guarantee, that it may not happen when the space colonization race starts with the colonization of the Moon. To buy a piece of the Moon is a hoax today, but some thousand years in the future, it may be a realistic proposition.

If you look at recent lunar research, you'll know that conditions are in no way conducive for life, but then, man's ingenuity should never be underestimated. Who knows what the future holds?