Transcript Moon Madness

Moon Madness
• Moon Colonies 2020
• Nasa’s Dilemma
Moon Colonies 2020
• The year is 2020. It has
been 30 years since the
colonies for research and
development were
established on the moon.
Because the moon is free
from air, gravity and
pollution, manufacturing
and experimentation are
easier here then on earth.
Moon Colonies 2020
• Currently, thousands of people from all
over the globe live on the lunar surface,
with their families, and work in the labs
and factories producing prescription
medication in sterile environments.
• Five different nations ( U.S., Germany,
Japan, Czechoslovakia and Cuba) own
and run these labs and factories.
Moon Colonies 2020
• NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration.)
administers the colonies.
• They make the rules,
create work/living
assignments, and arrange
for shuttles to take/bring
people and equipment to
the colonies.
• They own the majority of
the labs and factories.
Everything has gone
smoothly…until now!
Nasa’s Dilemma
• Problem #1
One of the American chemical companies
claims that it does not have to pay certain
taxes on products made on the moon.
American tax laws, the company maintains,
cover only profits made in the United States
or in foreign countries. Since the moon is
neither, no tax is due.
Nasa’s Dilemma
• Problem #2
An employee at one of the labs feels that the
assignment of housing space is unfair, and
she wishes to speak out against it. She claims
a constitutional right to freedom of speech
and demands that she be allowed to use the
intra-colony television communication system
to make her protest known to fellow moon
residents.
Nasa’s Dilemma
• Problem #3
A group from the Soviet Union demands that
it be given transportation and laboratory
space so that it can perform some top-secret
experiments. The Soviets claim this right
under a 1967 United Nations treaty that
declared the moon to be the common
heritage of mankind.
Nasa’s Dilemma
• Problem #4
The group demands that thirty-five percent of
the profits from the moon production be put
into a fund which the developing nations can
use for their own scientific work.
A New System of Government?
• Some longtime moon colonists
have drawn up a constitution
and a set of laws for a moon
government based on
democratic principles. They
feel that the time has come for
NASA to give up its control of
the colony and turn the moon
over to the colonists.
• YOU are a member of this
group. Your job is to create the
new constitution and put
together a political brochure
that will persuade other
member of the moon colony to
join you cause.
Legal Issues
• Each of these four
cases raise
interesting legal
questions that are not
easily answered.
Look at each one,
and examine it from a
legal point of view.
*Handout #1*
Historical Equivalence
• When arguing for a new
law or constitution,
historical equivalences
might serve as an
example as to how a
similar problem was
successfully resolved in
the past.
*Handout #2*
Constitution Format
• Preamble: From what authority do you derive
your legal right to rule the moon? (Compare to
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.)
• Article I: Where is the legal authority? Who
makes the laws? Who will be elected and how?
• Article II: Who will enforce those laws? What
power will they have? What is considered a
crime on the moon? What is the punishment?
Where will they be punished? How will the land
and the resources be divided?
Constitution Format
 Article III: Will there be a judicial system?
Composed of what and whom?
 Article IV: What are the Bill of Rights of the
moon? List at least twelve.
 Article V: Who may commercially use the
moon? How?
Constitution Format
 Article VI: Will the government of the moon
tax its citizens? How will the moon
government pay for its services? With
whose money? Will they print their own?
 Article VII: How will the laws of the moon
integrate the laws of the various countries
on Earth? Who decides?
*Handout #3*
Propaganda
• Using knowledge
from previous units,
your group must
create a persuasive
brochure using
Microsoft Publisher to
convince members of
the colony to join your
protest.