OK, simple question but really poignantly difficult one: Who owns the moon, what sections, and why?

Horace does.

No one “owns” The Moon. Even if the day did arise that we created lunar bases, I imagine the real estate value to be quite low until dependable, commercial space flight becomes available.

@boots I thought Horace was a sun god though.

@Grisaille Russia planted their flag in the middle of the Antarctic and claimed it, possession is 9/10ths of the law.

If you are planning on moving there you might want to check this out.

Oh dear

I find it rather fascinating that mankind deludes itself into thinking they can own something they can neither inhabit nor defend.

No one owns the moon.

The expression is “Possession is nine points of the law.” It’s not necessarily nine out of ten.

@Dog I find no merit in your response.

@ Jeruba Why, no one owns the Earth???, is it yet another land mass to be owned and controlled?

From Wikipedia:

“Ownership of extraterrestrial real estate is not recognised by any authority. Nevertheless, some private individuals and organizations have claimed ownership of celestial bodies, such as the Moon, and are actively involved in “selling” parts of them through certificates of ownership termed “Lunar deeds”, “Martian deeds” or similar. These “deeds” have no legal standing.”

Kind of like the International Star Registry and their bullshit “name a star after someone.”

Listen to the Chuck.

He’s from space.

@Grisaille There is zero reason to thank Chuck as he has quoted no source and hence his response is totally devoid of any weight to back it up at all.

@Grisaille Furthermore I find that Chuck’s response is complete conjecture and thus it must be stricken from the record.

If there aren’t aliens camping out up there who have told us to get lost or if we’ve not already established bases and whatnot on the moon and if colonizing efforts continue to look like anything like they do on earth, then it will probably be the usual mix of corporate control and empire enforcement via the military. See Arsenal of
Hypocrisy, which, @Dog, demonstrates that the moon proper need not be defended so long as a force can control who gets on and off planet earth.

One scenario for colonization/occupation is the mining of helium-3 which potentially can provide abundant energy via cold fusion. A fictional example of a helium-3 mining operation is depicted in the recently released film Moon.

edit:: Treaties, of course, say no country can own the moon but say nothing of corporations. Also, space-based profits are not taxable.

Jesus Christ, I’ve turned into the comic book guy from The Simpsons.

@Kraken We’re kind of crabby, aren’t we?

Well, here: http://www.unoosa.org/pdf/publications/STSPACE11E.pdf

Check out page 11, Art II.

The green countries in this map shows those who have signed and ratified this treaty. Yellow are those that have signed it. Also to note, N. Korea also signed, but the map is out of date.

Capice?

From AstroChuck’s first link:

Do I have to be a citizen of the Lunar Republic in order to own property on the Moon?
Under a proposed Constitution of the Lunar Republic, only citizens of the republic will be entitled to legally own property on the Moon. While citizenship is not currently mandatory, it is widely believed that a Lunar government will eventually make citizenship a prerequisite to land ownership.

Apparently, the Moon will be it’s own country. ~

Evelyn claims that the moon Titan is the place you oughtta be, (with apologies to Jed Clampett) so I will stake my claim there. Earth’s moon is so last year. =)

@AstroChuck thanks for that link to the moon property sales website, I haven’t seen that in a long time, it was good for a laugh.

Wait till the Moon colonists remove all the flags and start celebrating their Independence Day. Moon tourists will need visas then.

@mattbrowne- I’ve heard the moon will only accept Mastercard.

Selene does. Didn’t you know that?