Too late, I think, to link to the story, but there was a piece in the Financial Times earlier this week headlined “Probe raises fears of cosmic Klondyke” that typified absolutely everything that is wrong with some contemporary attitudes to space travel. “Fears” of a cosmic Klondyke? Why fears? The article was in response to the news that the world’s first commercial probe to the moon will take off in a few months. TransOrbital’s initial plans are modest – and a touch loopy. Crash land your ashes on the Moon! Still, it’s a start.

The FT quoted Richard Steiner, a professor and conservation specialist at the University of Alaska, who wants international consultation before any country grants licenses for lunar exploitation. “The moon is owned by everyone,” he says.” A farmer in Zimbabwe should also have a say.” Worried about lunar strip-mining (if not logic) Steiner wants the UN to name the moon a ‘world heritage site.’ What is it about the word ‘world’ that he does not understand?

All this is, of course, nonsense. The moon is not owned by everyone – it is owned by no one. I’ve no idea whether commercial exploitation of the moon is possible, but the best way of ensuring that it will never happen (and that, of course, may be Steiner’s idea) is to put in place some elaborate international regulatory regime. Far better, instead, to recognize the moon for what it is – terra nullius – and declare it open to all comers.

Mankind will then do the rest.