British doctor sells cheap land on Mars

Davies claims he owns land on Mars because he has been firing laser beams at the planet for years.

Dr. Philip Davies is selling land on Mars. Photo: Yahoo.

Philip Davies, a British family doctor, is selling land on Mars through his website Mars.Sale. He claims he has legal ownership of the plots because he started firing microparticle lasers at them seven years ago, according to News.com.au.

According to Davies's research into English law and many other laws around the world relating to land ownership, altering the surface of Mars with a laser, even if only done on a microscopic level, would be enough to gain ownership of the land affected by the laser.

"By firing high-powered lasers at Mars, we are making a small positive impact on the land and atmosphere. This is a normal act of claiming ownership. Our land management plan is completely consistent with what a settler would do," he wrote on his website.

Davies said his move was not intended to assert ownership of land on Mars, but simply to draw attention to outdated provisions in the current international space treaty.

He argues that a nation seeking to exploit resources on Mars could simply withdraw from the treaty, which has been signed or ratified by more than 130 nations, and then install weapons of mass destruction on the Red Planet to protect its mines, an action currently prohibited by the treaty.

Davies hopes his claim to Mars will attract the attention of the United Nations, prompting countries to sign a new treaty. “This is an opportunity to highlight the dire state of the only law that prevents nuclear weaponization in space,” he said.

Davies is selling land on Mars for as little as $0.01 for 100,000 square feet. He believes that if he gains a legally enforceable title to the land, the United Nations might be embarrassed and consider amending the treaty.

According to VNE