Trusteeship Council, plus Metanation's representatives. By offering a new monetary system in space, long-term human migration aloft becomes feasible on a scale no single terrestrial nation can afford. In the year 2000 A.D., the initial goal would be achieved with the convening of a world-wide Constitutional Convention where elected delegates from many nations could vote on several key documents. Toward that end, the process begins in 1995 when United Societies in Space, in conjunction with the World Bar Association, sponsors a series of contests to provide submissions for a Metanation Declaration of Interdependence and Constitution, as well as a name for the new space republic. Proposed versions by ordinary citizens, groups, and even law schools would be evaluated by a panel of experts, possibly members of the International Institute of Space Law. We hope that the American Bar Association through the Air and Space Law Forum will take an active role in this process, as well as in the review and refine the projected Treaty on Jurisdiction in Space. Volunteer experts are also invited to participate in the oreoaration of a sound business plan for the orderly development of Metanation until 2025. Conclusions The time has come for those who adovcate space-based energy, not only to present a unified case for invest, but also to consider matters of space governance that will hamper or facilitate solar power beaming from the orbital environment. Space energy scientists need to develop some synergy with space lawyers and venture capitalists to ensure their vision becomes reality. Thus, rather than amend the present Moon Agreement, we urge space and legal leaders to replace it with a new agreement, as well as possibly amend the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, such as outlined below in the model Treaty of Jurisdiction in Space. That would create a new offworld nation as humanity's representative government aloft. Metanation, one far beyond us but clearly all about us, should be formulated for practical reasons before mass future migration to the space frontier gets underway. This strategy becomes the enabling mechanism for creating a spacefaring civilization. This proposal guarantees equal representation and freedom in space for all our planet's citizens. The immediate operating mechanism for development of Greater Earth's resources, such as space-based energy, would be the Lunar Port Authority, whether established under U.S. laws or authorized by the U.N. Trusteeship Council for new territories. The treaty principles, as developed by the authors, protects the Common Heritage of Mankind (C.H.O.M.), and can be administered better by separate Metanation than by the traditional U.N. space treaties. A pro-development legal system could then be enacted to replace the weak treaty quagmire which now is in place. A democratic representative system of government would fill the political void in space. Property law would be modified by creation of leasing mechanisms so that tenancies of space properties and businesses could obtain financing for approved macroprojects within the orbital environment. Metanation would guarantee business debts and regulate businesses aloft, while assessing "taxes" in the form of rental charges and franchises for the use of space, facilities, and other commercial undertakings on the high frontier. Escheat (the reverting of property to the government) would replace foreclosure and
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