Space

Who Will Own the Moon?

Property rights in space will attract investment, prevent space serfdom, and allow competition to flourish off-world.

Jeff Greason | 10.5.2026 2:46 PM

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(Skyhorse Publishing)

New Space Capitalism: The Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars, by Rainer Zitelmann, Skyhorse Publishing, 282 pages, $32.99

Much of the public is unaware of the gradual transformation of space activity from a purely governmental arena to a commercial industry—or mistakenly assumes that this change arrived only with SpaceX. Rainer Zitelmann's New Space Capitalism: The Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars offers a solid, brief summary of that history. While the book highlights other companies and the need for competition, it is somewhat too credulous about claims by SpaceX chief Elon Musk. But that is a minor fault in a useful introduction to the topic.

The book's most interesting chapter is its final one, which argues that property rights should play a central role in our space future. That subject gets too little attention today. As the U.S. races back to the moon, Washington appears to be repeating the mistakes of the Apollo program: It is giving us a government-led, government-directed effort to fly government astronauts to government facilities, even if the launch vehicles this time are privately owned and operated.

The government's interest in controlling the mission is understandable. The strategic value of space is visible from Ukraine to Iran to the South China Sea, and Washington has good reason not to want another power to dominate space or to deny American access to its resources. The best way to keep lunar resources from becoming an arena of conflict is to ensure that no power can lock market democracies out. We wouldn't want to live in a world where Americans have no presence on the moon as an adversary uses lunar resources........

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