Do you want to be an owner of an acre of the moon? Perhaps you want to buy a piece of land on Mars and relocate there? The idea may sound absurd but, believe it or not, there are some companies selling land on the planets around us and the moon.

It may be uncommon in the Philippines but there are a lot of people purchasing these parcels of “land” as a special gift or to commemorate an event. Some would even pay to have a star named after a deceased loved one or name it after themselves (though it does not really become the official name since stars are catalogued). Surprisingly, the cheapest package costs $20, or approximately P1,000 pesos (certainly way cheaper compared to buying a piece of land on Earth, where people work hard in order to pay for a small-sized area).

A UN Outerspace Treaty was made in 1967 which states that no government should ever own any extraterrestrial properties like the moon and the planets, but it forgot to mention companies and individuals. This has resulted in scheming and brilliant people using this tiny loophole and making it a profiting business.

As exciting as it may be to own property outside of planet earth, the “legal” documents estate companies provide you are not considered legitimate. It is true they provide buyers with a deed and a map of the exact location of their property, it is all still illegitimate even if registration were south with some official governing body.

Then again, even if people already know it’s not real, why do they still buy it? I believe it’s the uniqueness of the idea. The fancy legal paper the property deed may just be a mere paper with no legal bearing, but having your name printed on it offered a feeling like you really own a part of outer space (even if you already know you cannot build a house there, let alone step on your acquired land).

However, whenever you look up to the moon, you can say to yourself, “I own a part of that”… even if it is just on paper./WDJ