If we tell you that you can buy land on Moon and if you haven’t heard about Dennis Hope, then you will think that we are trying to make you fool. But there are people who are buying land on Moon from a man who claims to be the rightful owner of land on Moon and that man is Dennis Hopes.
Dennis (66) has made more than $10 million by selling land on moon and he claimed the ownership of land on moon by finding and benefitting from a loophole in 1967 UN Outer Space treaty. He founded a company, named it Lunar Embassy and then he sold the plots of moon while sitting in his bar and through internet, the rates that was fixed by him were $20 an acre and $25 an acre which also includes the mineral rights. He has six million clients and his clients list also includes some prominent names like Hollywood actors Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Clint Eastwood, Star Wars creator George Lucas, Presidents Reagan, Carter and Bush Junior while firms like Hilton and Marriott have also made investments on Moon.
Dennis has also founded his own state in 2004 which he named Galactic Government; it had an approved constitution, a unit of currency, a congress and also an office of patent. A certificate which is embossed with gold is given to every owner and the owner also has right to vote in any elections which may held in future.
Before entering the field of Space Real Estate, Dennis was a salesman of used cars, he then did some study on the laws of land-grabs on earth before he wrote to the UN for claiming the moon. As he didn’t receive any answer rebuking his claim, he started considering himself as the rightful owner of moon and its mineral wealth. At the same moment he also claimed to be the rightful owner of other planets and their moons. He told, “I couldn’t help thinking that there was a lot of unclaimed property up there. I was intrigued enough to look up the treaty and sure enough Article Two states ‘no nation by appropriation shall have sovereignty or control over any satellite bodies.”
He further added, “I found a lot of countries accepted that land could be claimed so I just applied what I learned. People have said just because the UN never responded doesn’t mean you own it. Well, I did my due diligence, they should have done theirs.”
Dennis Hope, who is from San Francisco, came up with the thought of claiming moon’s land while he was driving cross-country in late 1970s. He started selling from his pub and after that he went online. He told, “I’d sit in bars, with a batch of deeds in my coat. I’d get talking to someone and they asked what I did, I’d say, “I sell the moon”. It was a great conversation starter. I made a lot of sales that way.”
He also plans to construct a giant pyramid on moon which will be accommodate more than thousand visitors, however he also says that it is not feasible for anyone to stay there forever as it will lead to medical problems.
However, he feels that people will surely go for ‘extended vacations’ of three months in once visit so that they can get the ‘best views in the solar system.’
An indoor golf course is also being planned by a leisure firm. The biggest sale that has been made by Dennis till now is 2.6 million acres to one person. The youngest client of Dennis was a day old and the oldest was 97 years. However, he also claims that he has refused a ‘massive’ offer – worth ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ as the company was interested in buying Polar Regions.
Reason that he gave for refusing the offer, “That’s where the frozen water is and they’re not for sale. Any company that owned it would have a monopoly on the moon’s water supply and would exploit it.”
Dennis had also made some visits to courts in cases related to his business, as he told, “I’ve been taken to court in Germany and Sweden for fraud but both cases were thrown out of court because of lack of jurisdiction. No court wants to tackle the issue yet, but I’m sure they’ll be cases in the future.”
He had also received letters and emails with foul language and four bomb threats also have been made against him and his business, he told, “They call me a con man and a charlatan and that no one can own the moon for himself. I just turn them over to the FBI and let them deal with them.”
Well if you are interested in buying land on moon, now you know whom you have to contact and do let us know what do you think whether this is logical, legal and feasible or not?
