Ray Bradbury said “So let us save ourselves, let us prepare ourselves to continue life and rebuild on the planets. We shall not long be of this earth”. Many scientists believe that the first outpost that people should master is the moon. Countries from around the world are looking at setting up colonies on the moon.
China, Russia and the European Space agency are drawing up plans to create their own beachheads on the moon while the United States is also looking at setting up colonies. A recent white house petition is asking for the United States to claim the moon and Antarctica since they already brought a manned mission to these locations and set up their flag. As many nations seek to expand and grow, the question remains who will own the moon?
The petition said “We’re a pioneering country and the beacon of the free world. The United States served as the model government for nations around the world, shifting them away from centuries of barbarism and collectivism”.
They went on to say “We walked on the Moon first, and since nations that first plant their flag on land have a claim to it.
They then said ‘the United States should declare the moon as theirs and make it the 51st state and Antarctica the 52nd’.
Other countries including Russia and China are planning colonies on the moon and may exploit the natural resources on it. Silicon valley business people have even decided to set up their own lunar colony on the moon. The question remains as to who will claim the moon. If nations simply share the space like a science colony, it may be a place of knowledge seeking but not be a giant outpost where humans could live on a massive scale and fill up the moon with people from earth.
If the United States makes it a 51st state. What would it be like? The United States could make it like the American frontier where people can own their own land and grow their own crops and start their own businesses. They could be given land like in the donation acts or homestead acts of the 1800s.
The Homestead act was a huge boon to the american economy. A homestead act applied to the moon and other frontier outposts could offer similar success. The industrial revolution was attributed in part to the launch of the Homestead act. The government could build the infrastructure but then allow people to own their own plots of land within it. In the 1800’s the United States built the railroads which connected the United States to the frontier but people owned their own lands in the frontier.
The pioneering spirit is beckoning nations to seek out space as the new frontier. Will they share this space like in antarctica to use as some science outpost or will it be used to grow the earth population on a new world and expand into the universe. It is yet to be determined who will own the moon but if the petitioners get their way it will be the United States. Time will tell.
