If a private company went to the moon and salvaged the moon buggy and other equipment left behind would.....?

Question

Would it be legal to salvage the equipment there because nobody has been back in decades so by all rights the equipment was abandoned by the owners?

Answer 1

The answerer before me is right.NASA would probably take it back .They might give some money for it.

Answer 2

This is a very good question.

There was a movie called salvage 1 that dealt with an entrepreneur who wanted to do just that. he built a private rocket, launched it to the moon, where his pilots rounded up all the carry-able items, and put them in the ship. a little bit of trouble coming back, but everything ended well.

When NASA left those items on the moon it was for different purposes. Instrument packages was left to provide telemetry with data: it might be reasoned that these items were not abandoned and were not clearly in the domain for salvage. some items, like the moon buggy, suits and EVA gear, were intended to be trash: it may be legal to salvage these as man sees fit.

The fact is, man has already salvaged an item from the moon. the Apollo 12 mission had the astronauts go to the surveyor lander near by and recover the robotic camera from it. In effect: salvage. of course, it was the same agency that sent it, but the principles are the same. Did the two astronaut receive a cut of the recovered items cost? i don't know, but it would be amusing to find out

Answer 3

One thing to consider is that if someone has enough money to launch a salvage mission to the moon, there will be plenty of politicians wanting to be their friend, or at the very least not wanting to be seen as being against free enterprise. That is assuming an American company, if not American, how much international fuss would the US want to make just for some museum pieces?
It seems to be logical that the laws of salvage at sea would apply.

Answer 4

particular. The collector cost on my own might make it invaluable. i will see it now, the chinese language deliver a challenge and bring returned the flag from the Apollo 11 landing internet site and sell it on E-bay for a pair of billion money to a pair oil wealthy Arab as a front room ornament! by utilising they way, I hear Google is offering a $30 million prize to the 1st inner maximum enterprise to land an working rover on the Moon which could deliver returned stay photographs.

Answer 5

I'd put my money on this kind of issue being treated much like salvage rights at sea -- you find it and board it, it's yours. I wonder, though, how cost effective a privately financed mission to the moon would be.

Answer 6

You could argue that fairly loudly. However, when the US Government shows up on your doorstep with six or seven Abrahms Tanks and about a hundred guys dressed in bullet proof vests with guns ready, will you still be able to call your lawyer?

Answer 7

It's abandoned, but it would probably be confiscated by reason of historical importance. It would be like finding an ancient statue and claiming it for yourself. If no one knew about it, you'd be able to keep it, but the second they find out about it, it's going straight into a museum.

Answer 8

no law would prevail in a foreign country but an American would be scrutinized by the media and have influence on bureaucrats
to have it displayed . To play it safe call NASA and tell them just be for you launch you mission

Answer 9

Nasa would want their stuff back to put in a museum I would think. They might pay you market value for the materials, but it would cost you a million times that to get there and back.

Answer 10

That is a VERY interesting question. Space law has no clear answer for this question. It would end up in the courts for sure.