The United Federation of Koronis

Article II of the Outer Space Treaty governs the appropriation of space resources. Article II provides that "Outer Space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."

International lawyers differ in their interpretation of the term "national appropriation." Most interpret Article II narrowly to prohibit only national appropriation while others interpret the clause broadly to prohibit all forms of appropriation, including private and international appropriation. When Article II is compared to similar provisions in other documents, however, it becomes clear that the narrow interpretation is correct.

Based on the narrow interpretation of Article II the Koronis family of asteroids were appropriated by the now Monarch on 22/4/06 to form the United Federation of Koronis. Although the federation has appropriated all asteroids of the Koronis family its principal activities are related to the 8 larger bodies.

As the asteroids are currently uninhabitable, The Federation has established government offices on Earth for the purposes of conducting its activities and relationships. The government of The Federation is a constitutional monarchy with the appointed members of cabinet (representing each of the 8 main asteroids) responsible ongoing government business.

To facilitate the conduct of business within The Federation and among its Citizens the Government has devised a medium of exchange and issued currency. Details can be found by following the link on the menu.

Principal Memebrs of the Federation

Name	Size (km)	Orbital Period (Earth Years)
243 Ida	54 X 24 X 15	4.84
158 Koronis	35	4.86
167 Urda	40	4.82
208 Lacrimosa	41	4.92
263 Dresda	23	4.90
277 Elvira	27	4.90
311 Claudia	24	4.93
321 Florintina	27	4.90

To avoid confusion and to rationalise economic and cultural exchanges the year on all Federation asteroids is set as being equal to 4.9 Earth years. The ages of the citizens of the Federation are therefore given both in Earth years and in Koronis years.

The capital of the Federation is the entire asteroid of 243 Ida. The asteroid was explored by the Galileo spacecraft and information about our capital can be found here.