Who Owns Outer Space?

[Buster's Uncle]

Who Owns Outer Space?
Scientific American
By Eric R. Olson 19 hours ago

Who Owns Outer Space? - Instant Egghead #56

With the exception of international waters, unclaimed portions of Antarctica and a Hong Kong-sized parcel of land wedged between Egypt and Sudan, nearly every square inch of planet Earth has been claimed by a governing body. That leaves would-be colonists and conquerors with only one place to look: skyward.

Although a 1967 United Nations treaty states that “outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means” this hasn’t stopped at least one bold entrepreneur from selling plots of land on our closest celestial neighbors. Scientific American editor Clara Moskowitz has the story in our latest Instant Egghead video.


http://news.yahoo.com/owns-outer-space-video-215400928.html

[Geo]

Who cares, as long as all of us own viewing rights?

[gwillybj]

Human claims end where the breatheable atmosphere ends. mho

[Geo]

iow, Nepal, China, Pakistan, and India need to cede part of their territory in the Himalaya's?
Or all coastal nations may not claim the sea bottom within 12 miles of their coasts?

[JarlWolf]

If a place can be occupied and made self sufficient in terms of breathable atmosphere and conditions, it can be considered habitable territory. I wonder what the laws are for underwater territory... The 1967 treaty just states that artificial bodies of land can't be claimed as territory, for ex: Oil rigs. But what about the seafloor?

[Geo]

But what about the seafloor?

Well, there's laws against drag nets within territorial waters, so I guess that the seafloor is already covered.