Owning Property in Space

Photo taken from The New Atlantis

We never really think about it, but the day will soon come when people own property in space and take real estate development to the final frontier. For years we have entertained as mere fantasy the idea of driving cars through the air and living in floating high-rise buildings. The day when all that futuristic building and transportation takes place may arrive sooner than you think.

Beyond the news of the Mars Rover exploration, little mention is made in the media about the politics and economics of harvesting the many resources that space offers us. In an excellent piece in The New Atlantis titled "Property Rights in Space" Rand Simberg reviews the history of space law and some of the potential scenarios that will come up as governments take a very hard look at finding ways to benefit from space.

I must admit I know next to nothing about space property law and I found this article enlightening. As an international educator I find myself troubled by something however. Since the next logical step after after development in space is travel and study abroad, what term could we use to replace "study abroad" since by then it will be inaccurate and antiquated?