Who owns the moon?

[JKPolk]

So for the past few months I have been involved in a project for my college. It entails discussing lunar mining rights and what problems are going to arise come colonization of the moon. Plans are already in the works to begin lunar bases, mining, and habitation and should be put into works within the next few years, supposedly beginning around 2010-2012 construction will begin by some of the major countries.

The real thing about all this, however, is that the Outer Space Treaty (OST) quite explicitly prohibits any country from owning any part of the moon, or outer space in general. The OST was written back in the mid 60s, right before the United States made the first successful lunar walk. Both Russia and the United States were instrumental in drafting the treaty which is important because each stood to gain immensely had it not been in place at the time of the Space Race. Now that another Space Race is imminent, the OST is being brought back into play.

An interesting loophole in the OST, however, allows for private entities to own and trade lunar property. Even more controversial is the fact that weapons are not allowed in space at all. This leaves one to wonder who exactly will be able to police space, especially if private organizations begin to colonize. The UN certainly has a hard enough time policing terrestrial areas, and yet they are the only ones with the "support" of superpower countries.

The questions we raise in our paper are those dealing with who, if anyone, is allowed to own the moon under any circumstances, who is allowed to govern lunar properties, and how are they expected to govern these properties?

I'm going to leave this open-ended and not put in some of the results we've come up with in order to encourage unbiased responses. I'll try to check back as often as I can to answer any questions on this problem of our times.

Note! My partner and I will be speaking at Holy Cross College in Central Massachusetts on April 11th at approx 1:30PM. If anyone's in the area, feel free to attend. We've planned for a discussion afterward with the audience, and if you come you can ask any questions and get in-depth answers without the internet filter on!

Contact me for more information if you'd like, hope to see some of you there