In 1967, the United Nations signed an international treaty on outer space sovereignty. This treaty prohibits any government from claiming ownership of the Moon or any part of outer space. However, it left a significant loophole: it did not address claims made by individuals or private entities. This gap in international law opened the door for some unusual interpretations.
In 1980, Dennis Hope, a resident of Gardnerville, Nevada, took advantage of this legal ambiguity. He sent letters to the United Nations, the U.S. government, and the Soviet Union, declaring ownership of the Moon and all planets in our solar system, excluding Earth. He even invited them to object to his claim. When he received no response, he assumed that silence meant consent and declared the celestial bodies his property.
Since then, Hope has been selling “land” on the Moon, Mars, and other planets for $20 per acre through his company, Lunar Embassy. For over two decades, this unusual business has brought him nearly $6.5 million, an average of $270,000 per year. He continues to run the operation, offering buyers certificates of ownership and even the right to “settle” on these distant worlds.
Hope also envisions a future where enough landowners vote to establish a so-called Lunar Government, hoping to pressure the United Nations and the U.S. into recognizing it as legitimate. While his enterprise may seem like a clever gimmick or even a scam, it has drawn attention and profit, all based on planets he has never visited and does not possess.
This astonishing story leads us to a deeper question: Who truly owns the Moon? And beyond that, who owns the stars, the sky, the Earth, and all the wonders visible and invisible that surround us?
Dear brother, as we reflect on Dennis Hope’s audacious claim, let us ask ourselves a greater question: Who is the true Owner of all creation?
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?You have made thema little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:3-10
Friend, you and I share the responsibility of caring for creation. Not as its owners, but as stewards. The earth does not belong to us; we are entrusted with it. So, ask yourself: Am I a faithful steward, pleasing to the Owner? Or am I a careless one, failing in my duty?
EN 
RW