Making a mint out of the Moon By Nick Davidson /BBC Horizon

[Demeter]

Making a mint out of the Moon
By Nick Davidson
BBC Horizon



From his office in Nevada, entrepreneur Dennis Hope has spawned a multi-million-dollar property business selling plots of lunar real estate at $20 (£10) an acre.
Mr Hope exploited a loophole in the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and he has been claiming ownership of the Earth's Moon - and seven planets and their moons - for more than 20 years.

These are "truly unowned lands", he says. "We're doing exactly what our forefathers did when they came to the New World from the European continent."

Hope says he has so far sold more than 400 million acres (1.6m sq km), leaving a further eight billion acres still up for grabs.

Buyers include Hollywood stars, large corporations - including the Hilton and Marriot hotel chains - and even former US presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. George W Bush is also said to be a stake holder.

Mr Hope claims to be selling 1,500 lunar properties a day. He allocates land by simply closing his eyes and pointing to a map of the Moon.


"It's not very scientific but it's kinda fun," he says. It is fun that has already made him $9 million (£4.5 million).

Horizon: Moon for Sale will be broadcast on BBC Two on Tuesday 10 April at 2100 BST.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6533169.stm

I THOUGHT THE UN HAD MADE THIS ILLEGAL--BUT MAYBE I'M MISINFORMED?