Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: bobdihi on 02/06/2018 16:26:36
-
Do you become an owner of a star or a planet when you get there first? Mars for example. Will SpaceX own it if they get there first? Kind of finders keepers. If not Why Not?
There are 200 billions stars in our galaxy. More then enough for everybody. Why not just give a star to an interested individual. It would be rather cool to own a real estate in deep space. Keep registry of already taken stars. See who your neighbour is. Or why not go big. There are 100 - 200 billion galaxies in our Universe. Give the galaxies away. More than enough for everybody to own one.
Otherwise how does it work?
-
The Outer Space Treaty forbids any country from owning a celestial body (eg an asteroid, moon, planet or star).
Back in 1967, it was inconceivable that private individuals would travel to another planet on their own. However, the treaty requires that nations supervise the behavior of their citizens in space, so presumably the citizens of a signatory would also be subject to this treaty.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
There are certainly multiple commercial (rip-off) companies who will name a star for you, and they maintain a registry. But these are entirely unofficial, and the value of this is merely the value of the piece of paper on which the certificate is printed.
Australia was founded on the principle of terra nullis, ie the assumption that nobody owned the land (even though there were obviously people living there before Europeans arrived).
You are basing this proposal on an equivalent principle: stellar nullis (pardon my Latin).
The question is: Will any hypothetical natives have bigger laser beams than you do?
-
You are basing this proposal on an equivalent principle: stellar nullis (pardon my Latin).
You missed out an "i" in "nullius"! It would also be "stella nullius", @evan_au, or "sidus nullius", sidus being the other word for star. [My Latin's not that great either, but I did enough to get me a GCSE and I think it made me better at English in the long run, so I don't regret doing it!]
There are 200 billions stars in our galaxy. More then enough for everybody.
That seems like a lot, doesn't it? But when you think that there are 7.5 billion on Earth now, scheduled to reach 9-10 billion by mid-Century, that's not very many years of stars, in the grand scheme of things, before we've run out of stars to give to new humans.
-
"Invest in land. They ain't makin' it no more."
-
You are basing this proposal on an equivalent principle: stellar nullis (pardon my Latin).
You missed out an "i" in "nullius"! It would also be "stella nullius", @evan_au, or "sidus nullius", sidus being the other word for star. [My Latin's not that great either, but I did enough to get me a GCSE and I think it made me better at English in the long run, so I don't regret doing it!]
There are 200 billions stars in our galaxy. More then enough for everybody.
That seems like a lot, doesn't it? But when you think that there are 7.5 billion on Earth now, scheduled to reach 9-10 billion by mid-Century, that's not very many years of stars, in the grand scheme of things, before we've run out of stars to give to new humans.
Especially when most people would want the "good" stars (G class stars like our own) and they only make up 7.5% of the stellar population.
-
Especially when most people would want the "good" stars (G class stars like our own) and they only make up 7.5% of the stellar population.
Good point! No brown dwarfs for me!
-
There are two definitions of ownership: effective ownership is the ability to defend your territory, and legal ownership is a licence from a larger organisation (a state) that defends it for you.
Thus a habitable planet may be like the Wild West, or may already be controlled by a civiisation that (a) resents you and (b) has several years' notice of your arrival. Aerial invasion is fraught with difficulty and rarely holds ground if it isn't supported by a naval presence, so be prepared for a fight either way.
-
so be prepared for a fight either way.
The trouble comes when the "natives" are a few decades, or centuries, behind the invaders. History gives us a clear picture of what is likely to happen.
-
It would also be "stella nullius"
Just last week, I saw John Cleese reliving the humiliation of high school Latin lessons as he provided detailed instructions on how to write "Romans go home!".
I wonder if any other lifeforms will also have trouble clearly conveying the message "Humans go home!".
-
We cannot manage this planet. Why should we be allowed to doom another one?
-
Likely treaties will evolve. So, if a company builds a mining compound on an asteroid or comet, then they may well have rights to the entire asteroid or comet.
It gets more complex with a planet. For example, when Europeans first set foot in North America, no single person or ship could claim the entire continent.
Likely the first pioneers to Mars or Venus will have a tough time. Later ones will have an easier time, but there will have to be some form of sharing between them.
And, what about simple robots being sent to distant places?
Does the USA own the moon since we planted a flag on the moon, then have left for half a century?