Rainer Zitelmann has doctorates in history and sociology. He has authored and edited 32 books that have been translated into 35 languages. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Without property rights in space, one of the most important economic incentives for the commercial development — and ultimately the settlement — of celestial bodies is missing. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits states from claiming sovereignty over celestial bodies or land on them. The underlying idea reflected the dominant thinking of the time: space belongs to all mankind.
The question of whether private individuals or companies may acquire property rights remains unresolved. The treaty says nothing explicitly about private ownership, largely because in the 1960s hardly anyone imagined that, just a few decades later, entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos would possess the financial resources and technologic...
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