Private sectors role in colonisation

Mmmm sorry Ekkehard But in the end, it goes all to the same point. Government trying to control or even deny companys to get into space quicker then they. If that's being done with costs or property rights, its all the same. And treaties have not very big meaning in the current world. The us is building even new nuclear weapons. And they deny other countries to do the same.

BUt ok, launch costs. I'm not sure what kind of costs are included into that, but if you could own cape caneveral, the only thing you should pay for is the rocketfuel it runs on.... The whole idea of launch cost is just another method of getting money to the government. Are these launch costs the same in every country? The best way to circumvent this, would be to launch it from a ship, to launch it from a point where no country can claim launch costs.

The government share of the launch costs of SpaceX, Scaled Composites/Mojave Aerospace and all the other private space vehicle teams are licence costs and taxes only. The amount of propellant required for launch and the producer's share of the price per unit of propellant are non-governmental. The same is valid for the vehicle itself. The House of Senate passed a bill last year that is preventing government impacts on such costs for several years and allows for FAA impact unly if an accident occurs.

All this may be a good reason to start a special thread on it.



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

If nobody has the right to grant property rights on the moon, then surely its up for grabs as it doesnt belong to anyone?

Sort of like salvage rights at sea. As long as its not occupied or has not been placed somewhere for a specific reason you can have it.

Commercial companies could mine the moon without permission or set up lunar colonies as no one has the right to say they cant. It effectively reverts to the situation in medievel times when a King could only have as much land as they could keep.

If a company takes some land on the moon it belongs to them to do with as it wishes, they only loose it if it is abandoned for a period and someone else takes up residence (possession is often quoted as being 9/10 of the law in the states at least).

This would remain the situation until there is an indiginous lunar population building their own homesteads from materials that they have paid for. At that time there would probably be a Lunar government running things.

"All" you have to do is go there and take up residence to make it your own. Pretty much like people did in the USA or Australia. Any government might make it difficult to launch from their territory but ultimately they couldn't stop a multi-national company going where ever it wanted.

They could prosecute an American company...

It isn't really safe until you go there to stay. If you planted on Mars and just sat there by the time the governments got there you would be the 'Natives'

Has the US passed any laws forbidding private companies going to the moon? I thought NASA were told to get commercial industry more involved, wouldn't stopping a private company mean that the US government was contradicting its policy? (obviously this wouldn't be the first time)

If the US waits until 2020 or later to send men back to the moon, they might find another country or private company already there. It could be that once a lunar mission had been done privately, Mars missions would follow shortly but I think that a lot of infrastructure would have to be in place first. The Moon will be a lot easier until someone comes up with a way of shortening the journey time considerably.