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Extraterrestrial real estate

ownership claims of property on other planets, moons, or parts of outer space

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ1549399
Source-derived summary

Extraterrestrial real estate refers to claims of land ownership on other planets, natural satellites, or parts of space by certain organizations or individuals. Most claims on extraterrestrial real estate have not been recognized by any authority, and have no legal standing. Nevertheless, some private individuals and organizations have claimed ownership of celestial bodies, such as the Moon, and have been involved in "selling" parts of them through certificates of ownership termed "Lunar deeds", "Martian deeds" or similar.

While personal claims have had little weight, whole states could potentially lay claim to colonizing celestial bodies. Extraterrestrial real estate not only deals with the legal standpoints of potential colonization, but how it could be feasible for long-term real estate. There are multiple unique factors to consider in extraterrestrial real estate, including transportation, planetary protection, sustainability, astrobiology, how an extraterrestrial real estate market could function, and orbital real estate.

History

The topic of real estate on celestial objects has been written about since the 1890s. Dean Lindsay made claims for all extraterrestrial objects on June 15, 1936. The public sent offers to buy objects from him as well.

Law and governance

The United Nations-sponsored 1967 Outer Space Treaty established all of outer space as an international commons by describing it as the "province of all mankind" and forbidding any nation from claiming territorial sovereignty.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Extraterrestrial real estate” as ownership claims of property on other planets, moons, or parts of outer space. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Extraterrestrial, real and estate.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1936, 1967—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Extraterrestrial, real and estate providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Extraterrestrial real estate”, the useful work is to connect “ownership claims of property on other planets, moons, or parts of outer space” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1549399. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1936 and 1967.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Extraterrestrial real estate”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Extraterrestrial real estate primary sources, Extraterrestrial real estate archive and Extraterrestrial research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Extraterrestrial real estate”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Extraterrestrial real estate” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.