[meteorite-list] Ownership Claimed for Asteroid 433 Eros

From: Francis Graham <francisgraham_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:27:46 2004
Message-ID: <20031109200722.85861.qmail_at_web40111.mail.yahoo.com>

  Nemetz' claim is a test case for treaty rights vs
constitutional rights. He was very clever in picking
Eros. Not only is a NASA vehicle parked on it, but the
story will be avoided by many newpaper editors, as
their content would filtered out by many net nanny
programs because it contains the word "Eros". Hence he
won't be widely derided as a nut.
  It will be interesting to see if the judge throws
out the case on the basis of no actual possession of
the land (Eros) happened.
   It is possible for an amateur rocketeer to "Take
possession" of part of the moon. Here's how: a pellet
can be sent into outer space at escape velocity by a
shaped charge from the upper stratosphere. This was
done by Fritz Zwicky in 1957 and also by many amateur
rocketeers beginning with R.W. Jones in 1966. If the
release of the pellet can be narrowed to a still-wide
velocity range, the release of the pellet can be
triggered by a GPS unit and a computer in the upper
stratosphere to occur at a certain time at a given
location. If the pellet thus hits the moon, as it
should, then "possession" has been taken. To my
knowledge although amateur space BBs have been
launched, an amateur hit on the moon has not be done.
But it should be easily possible.
  That the USA considers that the Outer Space Treaty
doesn't permit ownership of celestial bodies is
interesting. I have had students collect
micrometeorite dust in rainwater. Since the tiny
objects have not yet touched the ground, technically
they are still "celestial". Yet the USA makes no
effort to deny my students' ownership.
  If NASA is successful at getting its parking ticket
on Eros thrown out, if I park "illegally" and find
meteoritic material under my car, can I fight the
ticket in municipal court?

Francis Graham

  

   
  


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Received on Sun 09 Nov 2003 03:07:22 PM PST