MELBOURNE, Australia (Oct. 13) - Now here's a gift that's really out of this world. A new real estate agency, Lunar Realty, based in the southern Australian city of Melbourne, opens its doors Tuesday selling one-acre blocks on the moon for 59 Australian dollars (US$40) and 10-acre "lifestyle" blocks for A$298 (US$202).
Businessman Paul Jackson, 33, announced Monday he had bought the Australian rights to sell the land from Nevada-based entrepreneur Dennis Hope.
Hope has been cashing in since 1980 on what he said was an apparent loophole in the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty that barred nations from laying claim to the moon but said nothing about individuals.
Hope registered a claim for the moon and planets with the United States, the Soviet government and the United Nations and, operating as Lunar Embassy, has been selling plots of extraterrestrial real estate ever since.
Jackson said two million people from 180 countries have bought a slice of the moon since 1980.
"I would be extremely happy if one day we got the chance to live on the moon," said Jackson, who has bought an acre of land for himself. "I look at the world around us and think stranger things have happened."
10/13/03
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Businessman Paul Jackson, 33, announced Monday he had bought the Australian rights to sell the land from Nevada-based entrepreneur Dennis Hope.
Hope has been cashing in since 1980 on what he said was an apparent loophole in the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty that barred nations from laying claim to the moon but said nothing about individuals.
Hope registered a claim for the moon and planets with the United States, the Soviet government and the United Nations and, operating as Lunar Embassy, has been selling plots of extraterrestrial real estate ever since.
Jackson said two million people from 180 countries have bought a slice of the moon since 1980.
"I would be extremely happy if one day we got the chance to live on the moon," said Jackson, who has bought an acre of land for himself. "I look at the world around us and think stranger things have happened."
10/13/03
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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