The Boston Globe has a fascinating article on proposals to create private property rights in space (HT: Instapundit). The article discusses several different ideas for allowing private entities to acquire extraterrestrial property rights. I don't have a strong opinion as to the relative merits of these proposals. But I hope the Globe is right to conclude that "there's . . . a growing consensus that some form of space property is inevitable and necessary." As I argued in this post, it would be a terrible mistake to leave all extraterrestrial property as an unclaimed commons or to allow it all to be controlled by government.