Could the Common Heritage concept work as the basis for a Moon Treaty?
Virgiliu Pop is a research specialist at the Romanian Space Agency. He has for years been keeping a legal eye on the area of space property rights, and his new book, “Who Owns the Moon? – Extraterrestrial Aspects of Land and Mineral Resources Ownership” (Springer, 2008) was published this month. Pop has been delving into what has shaped the law of extraterrestrial real estate, and the norms which express this law. And in his view, the norms and rules regarding property rights in the celestial realm are rather limited, even failing to define basic concepts such as what is a celestial body. Pop favors property rights over group hugs. “Despite the noble ideals of equity and care for the have-nots, the Common Heritage paradigm of the Moon Treaty has more faults than merits,” Pop told SPACE.com. “A refutation of the Common Heritage principle does not mean, however, that the developing world will, or should, be left behind in the space era,” he said. “China, India and Brazil are living proof
