Our Strange Ideas About Owning Space
Who owns spaces on our planet (and beyond) and what does owning them mean?
The plumber tells me that Elon Musk plans to surround the planet with so many satellites that NASA won’t be able to launch any more rockets. And then he’ll go live on Mars. “Musk will control Earth from space,” he concludes.
We’re crouched under my floorboards as he tells me this. He’s pointing out that the pipework in my flat needs replacing and consequently his bill will be more expensive than the original estimate. The Elon Musk story is, perhaps, to soften the blow.
Under my floorboards is this kind of… gap. Between my floor and the ceiling of the flat below mine is about 5 feet of space. It is not marked on the property deeds, it does not show up on any map. Had the plumber not taken up the floorboards, I’d have not known it was there.
In fact, my whole flat is surrounded by odd bits of space. The walls are hollow with cavities behind them. Above the ceiling is a void before the roof begins. This space under the floor could house a second-floor wine cellar. For a city where space is at a premium, this empty usable space makes no sense. On one side of my thin plasterboard wall, space is £729 per square foot, on the other side, it doesn’t belong to anyone. A sort of real estate…
