[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Any claims of national soveriegnty are expressly forbidden by the Outer Space Treaty.

Basically killed off any incentive for serious space exploration. If Spain and Portugal had agreed not to make any territorial claims in the New World instead of letting the Pope divide it between them, we would all be sitting in old Europe learning Arabic and waiting for the Aztecs to discover us.

[RightWhale]

The Report on Moon, Mars and Beyond, the President's base document for the new NASA program, says so in no uncertain terms. The Senate agrees about the Treaty: the Treaty effectively kills off any chance of meaningful private investment.