Plans to mine precious metals on the moon could make six MILLION people rich beyond their wildest dreams – but there’s a catch
A billionaire claims he is closer than ever to mining the moon – but what does this mean for people who have already bought land there?
MILLIONS of ordinary Earthlings could be in for a massive windfall if lunar prospectors go ahead with plans to mine the moon.
A firm selling plots of land on the moon said up to six million people could be eligible for a payout should moon mining firms try to extract gold, platinum or minerals.
Richard Branson's Virgin Experience Days is one of several companies selling the moon for around £25 an acre.
The plots can be purchased as a gift and come with deed polls, a certificate of owner’s rights and even a guarantee that all minerals on the land are included.
Virgin's British distributor, Moon Estates, told the Sun Online: "Ownership of a plot of land does entitle the owner to the mineral rights, but an owner cannot prevent exploration of the land so Moon Express would still be able to land on your plot and explore it unhindered without it being considered trespass.
"They would not however be able to exploit anything they found on the plot for commercial gain without contacting the owner."
Virgin Experience Days said up to six million people around the world have bought land on the moon from a variety of companies.
will launch its first mission this year with the hope of eventually mining the moon for precious metals.
The Silicon Valley start-up is one of five start-ups competing for funding from Google to be the first commercial company to set up camp in Space.
It has already won two space competitions and received tens of millions in funding from private investors.
It describes itself as a "privately funded commercial space company created to develop and mine the resources of the Moon and further space exploration".
But Virgin Experience Days claims that the a private American firm called the Lunar Embassy already have a stake in the land.
Its Moon Estate's spokeswoman added: "The Lunar Embassy in the US made the original claim to the land in 1980 after several years of extensive research by a team of eminent lawyers who specialise in international space law.
"That detailed claim was registered with the UN, the US and (what was then) the USSR Governments, and to date no-one has successfully contested that claim or even presented any kind of meaningful legal argument as to why it shouldn't be valid."
But before the six million on the moon property ladder start jumping for joy, there's a pretty big catch.
They might be entitled to some of the cash if these billionaires carve up the moon, but space experts and lawyers reckon there's zero chance of a payout.
Director of the London Space institute of Property and Law, Professor Sa'id Mosteshar said anything they extract will be fair game for greater mankind.
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It's all down to a Moon Treaty signed decades ago in which several countries promised to share outer space for the greater good and not grab it for commercial gain.
In fact, Moon Express itself says moon owners won't have a claim.
A spokesman told the Sun Online: "Lunar land" purchases from marketing organisations like the Lunar Embassy have long been debunked as legally valid.
"Under the terms of the Outer Space Treaty (OST), no signatory nation (or person or entity of that nation) can appropriate territory on any celestial body.
"The U.S. is a primary signatory of the OST.
"The Lunar Embassy organisation and its founder Dennis Hope are US and therefore bound by US law and the OST.
Space law expert Joanne Gabrynowicz told the Sun Online that moon property has little "legal clarity" and "raises many questions that currently do not have any answers."
She said: "There is a company that purported to sell lunar land plots.
"It was criminally prosecuted in two countries, Canada and China, for fraud.
"The fraud was 'selling' something they did not own and could not sell."
For now, "the question of property rights, their creation and protection, on any celestial body is far from settled," she added.
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