8/12/2019 Who Owns the Moon

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Who Owns the Moon? Listening Fluency #96BY DAN0 COMMENTS

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Image by: Joe

How do we decide who owns what? You probably own the shoes on your feet right

now. You probably also own the computer or device youre listening to this lesson

with too. Its not likely anyone would argue the fact that you own those things either.

What about thingsthat arent as easy toown though? Or things that are much

farther away, like the moon?

The conceptof anyoneowning the moonseems pretty silly. The concept of

any single personowning the moon seems even sillier. Even if you could imagine

owning the moon, you might think it would be a whole country who owned the

moon. Not just any country either, but the country who had gone to the moon the

most often.

The reality is much different though. In fact, there is a man who claimsto be the

sole owner of the moon. Dennis M. Hope hasowned the moon since the year 1980.

What makes Dennis the owner of the moon? Because he says he owns the moon,

and no one can prove that he doesnt.

It sounds crazy, but the1967 United Nations Outer Space Treatysays that no

country can own the moon. Good thingfor Dennis, the treatydoesnt say anything

about individuals owning the moon. Dennis sent multiple letters to the United

Nations saying that he owned the moon and asked for a reason why he couldnt

claim ownership of the moon. When the United Nations didnt respond, Dennis took

that as a sign that the moon was his property. Owning the moon has been Dennis

only source of income since 1995.

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8/12/2019 Who Owns the Moon

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For over 15 years now, Dennis has been selling plots of landon the moon for

bargain prices. About $35, which includes the lunar tax gets you a whole acre of

land on the moon. Dennis has even sold plots of the moon as large as some

countries for $250,000.

While the early bird often gets the worm, in this case Denniss claims to the

moon will most likely become meaningless. China recentlysent a robot to the

moonwith the main goal of digging a hole to explore for valuable minerals.

Scientists think the moon could be rich in valuable minerals such as titanium,

uranium and also helium 3. Helium 3 is a gasthat costs 10 million US dollars per

kilogram. Its not just governments, but also private companieswho are planning to

mine the natural resources of the moon.

As more and more companies and governments make progress towards settling

and mining the moon, what will happen to Dennis and all his customers? Will theirownership rights be valid? Or will it all turn out to be a big disappointment to

everyone but Dennis, who got rich from someone elses moon? Onlytime will tell.

Vocabulary

conceptan idea

claiman assertion of truth; a demand or request for something that is ones right.

treatya formal agreement between countries.the early bird gets the wormpeople who do things quickly before others will be

successful.

validlogical or reasonable

time will tellthe truth of something will become clear in the future.

http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/who-owns-moon-were-just-going-have-get-there-and-find-outhttp://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/who-owns-moon-were-just-going-have-get-there-and-find-outhttp://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/who-owns-moon-were-just-going-have-get-there-and-find-outhttp://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/who-owns-moon-were-just-going-have-get-there-and-find-outhttp://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/who-owns-moon-were-just-going-have-get-there-and-find-outhttp://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/who-owns-moon-were-just-going-have-get-there-and-find-out