psychoceramics: CNN - 3 Yemenis sue NASA for trespassing on Mars - July 24, 1997

["Andrew C. Bulhak" <acb @ cs.monash.edu.au>]

[http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9707/24/yemen.mars/index.html]
> 
>   [Pathfinder/Warner 3 Yemenis sue NASA for trespassing on Mars
>                      They say they inherited it 3,000 years     [Mars]
>                      ago
> 
>                      July 24, 1997
>                      Web posted at: 10:44 p.m. EDT (0244 GMT)
> 
>                      WASHINGTON (CNN) -- No one expects to lose much
>                      sleep over it but, for the record, NASA has been
>                      sued by three men from Yemen for invading Mars.
> 
>                      The three say they own the red planet, and claim
>                      they have documents to prove it.
> 
>                      "We inherited the planet from our ancestors 3,000
>                      years ago," they told the weekly Arabic-language
>                      newspaper Al-Thawri, which published the report
>                      Thursday.
> 
>                      Adam Ismail, Mustafa Khalil and Abdullah al-Umari
>                      filed the lawsuit in San'a, Yemen, and presented
>                      documents to the country's prosecutor general
>                      which they say proves their claim. There was no
>                      word on whether they had paid the appropriate
>                      inheritance taxes.
> 
>                      The claim is prompted, apparently, by the
>                      exploration of Mars by NASA's Pathfinder
>                      spacecraft and Sojourner rover, which have been
>                      sending back photos and data for analysis since
>                      early July.
> 
>                      "Sojourner and Pathfinder, which are owned by the
>                      United States government, landed on Mars and began
>                      exploring it without informing us or seeking our
>                      approval," the men charge.
> 
>                      They demand the immediate suspension of all
>                      operations on Mars until a court delivers a
>                      verdict. They also ask that NASA refrain from
>                      disclosing any information pertaining to Mars'
>                      atmosphere, surface or gravity before receiving
>                      approval from them, or until a verdict is reached.
> 
>                      'It's a ridiculous claim'
> 
>                      "It's a ridiculous claim," NASA news chief Brian
>                      Welch told CNN Thursday after smothering a
>                      chuckle. "Mars is a planet out in the solar system
>                      that is the property of all humanity, not two or
>                      three guys in Yemen."
> 
>                      Richard Cook, the Pathfinder mission manager at
>                      NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
>                      California, agreed. "It's everybody's," he said.
>                      "Mars is for the whole world to explore and to
>                      understand."
> 
>                      Welch says a 1967 international treaty holds that
>                      everything in the solar system, except Earth
>                      itself, is the property of everyone in the world
>                      and no one country.
> 
>                      "Just because we land on Mars first doesn't mean
>                      the United States owns it," he said.
> 
>                      Welch said he thought the issue could get more
>                      serious in the future "when people actually are
>                      going to these places and the resources found have
>                      some value. ... More complicated issues will have
>                      to be resolved between countries, or between
>                      companies."
> 
>                      Taking the opportunity to clear the air on another
>                      galactic real estate matter, Welch said he knew of
>                      no plans to take legal action against a man who
>                      has been selling deeds to property on the moon.
> 
>                      Welch said the deeds are as worthless as the
>                      Yemenis' claims. "That's why they invented the
>                      phrase 'Caveat emptor' [Let the buyer beware]," he
>                      said.
> 
> 
>                               © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
>                                     All Rights Reserved.
> 
>                      Terms under which this service is provided to you.