Recently in the United States, a rapper publicly stated that he intended to buy a planet. Is it really possible? What the law says ? Is this just a publicity stunt?
With the many discoveries of exoplanets, the hope of finding life outside the Earth has never been bigger than it is today. The issue of resource exploitation is also a source of interest. What if it was possible to buy a planet privately? As Inverse explains in an article from July 30, 2021, the American rapper Lil Uzi Vert would like to take action. If this really happens, then man would become the first human to legally own a planet . Lil Uzi Vert has set his sights on WASP-127 b, a planet that lies over 520 light years from our Solar System.
Michelle Hanlon is co-director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi (USA). The specialist is formal:from a legal point of view it is totally impossible to buy a planet . Acquiring a planet as territory is not legally possible since no existing Earth authority is capable of registering such a purchase, and therefore effecting the transfer of ownership.
Above all, the biggest hurdle standing in Lil Uzi Vert's way is the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. exploration and use of outer space. However, the treaty indicates that no state may claim territory in the space. Nevertheless, the 2015 Space Act instigated by the United States partially and unilaterally breaks the 1967 treaty. It allows private US companies to explore and exploit resources – including mining – in space. Thus, a US company would have the right to recover resources from a planet (or an asteroid). Nevertheless, she would still not be able to own the place. Indeed, the Space Act does not allow to go that far, so Lil Uzi Vert will have to make up his mind.
Although the rapper surely wanted to make an important publicity stunt, this case in particular provides an opportunity to prevent scams. On the Internet, it is possible that entities offer lunar plots or other celestial bodies for sale. You should know that this has absolutely no legal value, even in the presence of a deed of ownership. Also include the "applicable" side of the deed . Since it is impossible for the owner to go to the place, how could he prevent someone else from accessing it?
