Thanks to Dave Wasser of the Space Settlement Institute for the link to the recent article on property rights in space. It's certainly the 'elephant in the room' as far as long-term space development is concerned, and I may well mention it in my response to the RAeS solicitation on the Return to the Moon

"Can real estate on the Moon be legally claimed, owned, and resold here on earth, without violating international laws? People have wondered about it for decades. It has always been considered a gray area because no international treaties specifically allow it or disallow it.

Now for the first time a law journal article argues it is perfectly legal for a privately funded space settlement to sell deeds to lunar (or Martian) real estate.

This is an incredibly important issue because real estate would be a catalyst for privately funded space development. Without the ownership of Lunar real estate there is no economic incentive for private industry to invest the billions of dollars to get there - and stay there.

The article, entitled "Space Settlements, Property Rights, and International Law: Could a Lunar Settlement Claim the Lunar Real Estate It Needs to Survive?" appears in this week's issue of the SMU Journal of Air Law and Commerce:

http://www.space-settlement-institute.org/Articles/jal73-1Wasser.pdf

From the latest Astronautical Evolution mailing by Stephen Ashworth:

The Space Settlers' Society are planning to hold a meeting on Saturday 28th June in Glasgow, Scotland, at which we'll have talks on Tunguska (the 100th anniversary of which is on the 30th) and Apophis, the asteroid that'll pass Earth closer than geosynchronous orbit in April 2029, then close again in the mid 2030s, with discussion on what should be done about such things. This will be organized as a fund-raiser to assist Spaceguard UK getting a new camera set up. They need £65k and, while we may not raise all that, if we make a DVD of the event and sell this on the internet with all profit going to Spaceguard we may at least make some dent in the required sum.

Naturally we'll get the best speakers we can at our meeting and the DVD will also have lots of extra info on it about Tunguska and Spaceguard and its mission to protect our planet, along with lots of info about asteroids and comets, including the ESA, NASA, JAXA and other missions to Halley's Comet, Eros, Itokawa, etc.

If you'd like to come up to Scotland for the event or would like us to book you a copy of the DVD -- provisional sale price £15 -- please get in touch right away with Andy Nimmo of the Space Settlers' Society at andynimmo@yahoo.com.

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The Space Settlers' Society: Founded in 1980, we're Europe's longest running grass roots space-politics society, but we also have our own long term plan to take our members up to live and work in space. Until the day comes for that, we support all ventures calculated to bring down the cost of space travel, and to make it possible for the general public to participate, such as space tourism.

The Daily Telegraph reports that ESA is already seeing record numbers of women registering to apply for astronaut selection. Previous astronaut recruitment drives have seen one in every 16 applications coming from women, but on this occasion around 60 per cent of the interest has come from hopeful female candidates.

One such candidate is a colleague of mine, Dr Tracey Dickens. She said: "Since I was 12 years old, I have wanted to be the next British born astronaut. I could never understand why there have never been any more British females and I have always felt that if all those men can do it, then why can't I."

"If there was a British astronaut, particularly if they were female, then it would open up a whole new world to so many children and adults.

"Britain already has a space program, but hardly anyone knows about it because it has mainly been satellites, but this could change all that."

I'd like to wish her the very best of luck in her endeavours :-)

PARIS — The 17-nation European Space Agency (ESA) is scheduled to begin a year-long astronaut selection process May 19 and already is being asked to confront a nightmare scenario: that a British citizen emerges among the best candidates.

Now Britain's Royal Aeronautical Society (RAS) has written the equivalent of a screenplay for turning ESA's bad dream into a full-length horror film. In a paper to be published May 1 in its Aerospace Magazine, the RAS Space Group Committee says a British astronaut trained by ESA could get an early trip to the Moon as part of NASA's Constellation program following a bilateral cooperation accord on a robotic lunar mission between NASA and Britain.

Continue reading 'ESA May Face British Astronaut Quandary'...

UPDATE: ESA officials deny that the UK's current lack of official support for manned spaceflight will affect the astronaut selection process -- 'No bias' against UK astronauts - BBC News

Forthcoming Royal Aeronautical Society lectures that may be of interest:-

Tuesday 03 June at RAeS, London "Hydrogen fuelled pre-cooled jet engines". Skylon and LAPCAT A2: the UK lead in hypersonic and launcher propulsion. Evening lecture by Alan Bond, Managing Director, Reaction Engines Limited. Organised by the RAeS Space Group and RAeS Propulsion Group. Refreshments: 17:30, start 18:00. Details: Lecture summary to be published soon. Web: www.reactionengines.co.uk

Thursday 03 July at RAeS, London "What is needed to extend life permanently beyond Earth?". Evening lecture by Elon Musk, Owner and CEO, SpaceX. Organised by the RAeS Space Group. Refreshments: 17:30, start 18:00. Details: Lecture summary to be published soon. Web: www.spacex.com

From a recent RAeS mailing:-

The RAeS Space Group committee has published a new discussion paper on "Return to the Moon - A UK Perspective" with a view to sparking debate on that subject.

Those of you who are already members of the Royal Aeronautical Society will have seen the Discussion Paper in the May 2008 issue of the Society's magazine "Aerospace Professional".

The rationale for UK participation in robotic and human missions to the Moon is assessed. The science objectives are found to be strong, as is the use of the Moon as a test-bed for exploration beyond the Earth-Moon system. UK and international initiatives are reviewed, showing that the UK has extensive expertise to bring to bear. Recommendations for action by UK government are presented including the need for a sustainable programme of missions rather than a one-off, and the benefit of UK leadership of discrete and critical elements of any lunar project in order to attract public support.

This paper is the start of a Society initiative to help inform UK policy on the preferred options for UK participation in the Return to the Moon international initiative. The timing of our initiative seeks to build on ongoing events such as the Agreement between NASA and the UK on lunar missions, and the imminent selection of new ESA astronauts. The conclusions and recommendations attempt to be inspirational but also realistic.

The RAeS Space Group committee welcomes your comments on the issues raised in this paper and the recommendations made. Comments received will be incorporated into presentations and papers to be presented by RAeS officials and officers later this year.

Please send your comments to space@raes.org.uk preferably by 31 May 2008.

See full details at the RAeS Space Group web site http://www.raes.org.uk/space/ and click on "Return to the Moon - Have Your Say" near top right.