Israelis purchase land on moon

[MakkabI] · 4th January 2007, 16:45

Website selling land on moon reports flow of Israeli shoppers following NASA's decision to build base on moon. The cost – NIS 250 (USD 60) per half dunam, in the meantime land sold out

In December over one thousand Israelis had purchased land on the moon. The price of each plot of land with an area of half a dunam (about 0.123 acres) is NIS 250 (about USD 60) as reported by the official moon property's website on Wednesday.

During the 1970's, the American Dennis Hope registered the moon and all the planets in the solar system except for the planet earth under his name.

According to the land registry's laws, any citizen is allowed register any property under their name, as long as it is not registered under anyone else's name already, and no one objects to the registration.

Hope took advantage of this loophole and registered the moon under his name.

Daniel Yaron, CEO of Crazyshop, the company which markets moon property in Israel, explained to Ynet why Israelis are interested in purchasing land on the moon: "People decide to buy land on the moon for two reasons: One is the gimmick of giving a gift – a piece of land on the moon."

"The other reason," he continued, "is that now, we see that this is becoming more realistic after NASA's decision to construct a manned base on the moon by the year 2020. Some people think that in a few years from now this property may be more valuable."

Yaron agrees that "at the moment there is nothing to be done with the plot," but said that "in the future it may be possible to do something with it, to realize the purchase one way or another. After all, it is a matter of foresight, 70 years ago if someone had said 'buy land in Israel' people would have asked "why should we?""

Upon purchase, the buyer gets an ownership certificate and a photographed map of the purchased area. So far some 55.5 million acres of land on the moon have been sold to people all over the world.

For those who are interesting in making a purchase, at the moment the property inventory has been sold out.