New Book on Space Colonies

> I think that to create the market would be enough to allow claiming
> rights
> on space estates, like has already been said...
> If the US for instance should decide to recognize the right to
> everyone who
> gets there first on lots of lunar soil we would see a space race
> booming off
> pretty much instantly IMHO... it must be someone like the US
> government or
> even better a larger coalition of nations and political institutions
> to do
> it, as a credible backup would be an essential guarantee for investors
> to
> start to throw money in, but at that point it would take only one
> single
> venture to go for it first to create a chain reaction effect pulling
> all
> major economic muscles of the planet into the game.

I think that the US alone isn't enough. If there is a larger coalition,
the chances of things sticking would be a lot better, which is the key
driver for managing risk. So who are the most likely coalition
partners? My guess would be (roughly in order) Russia, Canada, Britain,
Australia, India, Brazil, China. I think nations which have credible
space programs already, or which are on the verge of developing them
are more likely to go for building a property rights regime in space.
Brazil in particular is geographically well placed - I think that
nations close to the equator may be more likely to come on board due to
the promise of having spaceports on their territory. Unfortunately the
east coast of Africa does not yet have any really promising spaceport
sites thanks to political instability. In a decade or so that may
change, and at that point there might be east African nations willing
to sign on.

......Andrew