On Ownership

NASA doesn't get sued, but when it does, it's over property rights.

Tl;dr - 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong gives a 10-yr old a vial of moon dust. Today, 60-yr old 10-yr old girl pre-emptively sues NASA in case she gets charged by NASA for ownership of said dust.

Hmmm, you wonder. Where was I when Neil Armstrong was handing out moon dust? Then you ask, wait a minute, who owns the moon?

NASA owns the moon. Actually not NASA, but the USA owns the moon.

Apparently there's a little black market for space paraphernalia (10's of millions at least), and the SWAT team have been known to work real hard to bust up that market and return such otherworldly items to their rightful owners.

There's a grey area in that little black market, however, which says that 1. Astronauts should be able to do whatever they want with the stuff they bring home, and that 2. There isn't a specific law saying that private persons can't own moon dust.

I don't know enough about property rights to keep this conversation going. But I do harken back to the distant Native Americans' puzzlement about fences and property, and wonder what they would think about this.

Notes:
Woman sues Nasa over ownership of moon dust vial
June 2018, BBC News