Broadcast 387

Rosanna Sattler was the guest for this Space Show program. Ms Sattler began the interview by discussing the source of international law and existing space property rights under the Outer Space Treaty. As a result of the property rights discussions, several questions were received from listeners that addresses questions relating to protecting a possible business claim on the Moon. The issues of guns, poaching, claim jumping, self and property defense all came up and Ms. Sattler explained why it was likely international regimes would not be supportive of such activities. She said it was unlikely that Texas from the 1880's would be repeated on the Moon or elsewhere in space. We also talked about the possibility that one day long into the future, lunar settlers might get fed up with their Earth relationship much in the same we the colonists got fed up with rule from Britain, thus leading to the Revolutionary War. Ms. Sattler was asked about the likelihood of a Lunar Revolutionary War way off in the future to establish lunar independence from Earth. Her answer to this set of listener questions is a good one. Ms. Sattler talked about property rights regimes based on the Law of the Sea Treaty and the Deep Seabed Hard Minerals Resources Act, and she also described her concept of Exclusive Economic Zones for lunar development. ITAR was mentioned as probably the most serious barrier to space development needing modification as soon as possible. Toward the end of the show, Ms. Sattler was asked to help bring about domestic tranquility with listeners in Wellesley as one was totally committed to space development and the other saw it as a drain of resources of all types when resources are badly needed to repair the Gulf Coast after Katrina, end war, and do something about the poverty that became so evident during the Katrina disaster. Ms. Sattler did a superb job in connecting the dots of space development and its importance to the listener achieving all her goals that she stated in the question. You will certainly want to hear this question and Ms. Sattler's excellent response. Listeners can e-mail Ms. Sattler at rsattler@pbl.com or as always, through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.