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A petition to have the U.S. withdraw from the United Nations Outer Space Treaty has been submitted to the White House.

Now’s here’s a good idea: A petition to have the U.S. withdraw from the United Nations Outer Space Treaty has been submitted to the White House.

Read it. Mark Whittington, who submitted it, is absolutely right. We get out, we can claim territory on the Moon and thus apply U.S. law to that territory. People and companies could thus own land and have an opportunity to make a profit from their property.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • I like that the OST prevents signatories from claiming land.

    It’s about time individuals understood the over reach of nations in making a claim that the universe is off limits.

    People have always had the right to claim that which is unclaimed. All chain of title begins with a claim.

    Any claim must of course be defended. It is not required that a nation do the defending.

    The best defense is possession of reasonable amounts by many claimants.

    This alone pays entirely for our expansion by colonies into space.

  • Pzatchok

    Step one is establishing a colony.

    Step two is getting a parent nation to defend it from other nations.

    Step three is making a profit on the new land.This attracts new people.

    If we have the biggest colony on the moon we rule the Earth. We will just always have the high ground in any fight after that.

    Now do we want to let China gain the high ground or are we willing to go bankrupt winning this race?
    As a member of this American nation I am willing to spend it all to make the jump and win the race.
    Our children really really need a new goal to reach for. And space is all thats left.

  • chris babcock

    Just signed the petition, #3. C’mon folks, all readers of Behind the Black should sign.

    Bob, maybe something on the right side so this article doesn’t get lost as it moves down each day.

    – cb

  • Step one is seeing the lightbulb, which is…

    The right to claim a reasonable plot of land by possession is as old as humanity. This applies to claimed land, so for unclaimed land (all of space) this right is even more solid. Chain of title, which legally defines ownership, all starts with a claim. This does not require the blessing of any nation.

    To give title the force of law the best method is for many people to agree to the terms of a settlement charter which requires possession and limits claims to each individual to a reasonable amount.

    To make colonization sustainable, it should be free to the colonists that are risking their lives and include a free spacesuit. To do this the transportation company must be able to make a profit at $100m or less per colonist transported (doable within this decade.) For $40m per colonists, the transportation companies could make a profit selling undeveloped land at $100 per plot (between a half acre to quarter hectare) to speculators on earth that have no intention of ever going to mars. This funds everything at a profit. Today. Other profitable exploits are gravy and then become possible.

    The settlement charter, which provides the free ride and space suit, limits the supply of land. To get more land in play, more colonists must be transported.

    Defending those claims will be easy once enough colonists participate because it is done by possession.

    No nation is going to go to war over it because a few thousand sq. km. is nothing compared to the 144 million sq. km. of unclaimed land available to any others that want their own claim.

    Establishing this precedent on mars will establish it for the entire solar system. Mars has the resources for an independent industrial ecology with as little as a few dozen colonists.

    Each colonist risking their lives will have the assets to pursue their own happiness for the rest of their lives.

    Each transportation company has trillions of dollars in potential profit and many will compete for that.

    It just takes a lightbulb.

  • Michael J. Listner

    Oops. Looks like it expired.

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