MAISIE MARY MARSHALL

Lunar Land:

In 1980, American, Dennis Hope wrote a letter to the General Assembly of the United Nations and to the Russian Government documenting his claim and the legal intent to sell extra-terrestrial properties.

Dennis’s case was primarily based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, in which UN members accepted that, no government should ever own or exploit a moon or planet. What this treaty did not say however, was that private individuals couldn’t have a piece of it. The subsequent Moon Treaty of December 18 1979, attempted to readdress this issue, but as very few bothered to sign it, the gap remained. In staking his claim, Dennis cited the Homesteaders’ Act, passed by America during the 19th century, allowing wilderness entrepreneurs to claim land, simply investing from a distance. No one disputed Dennis’s claim, and so he started selling land in space to people around the world.

‘Lunar Land’ explores the plans of three-moon land owners in Cornwall, who wish to get to the moon and nurture their land. All three members Reggie Roynon, Zoe Mummery and Harold Heathman, believe in a communist country that treats everyone equally regardless of race, gender, religion or social class. It is on the moon that they want to re-build civilisation and create a better world for humanity to live in.