Property Rights on Mars!
A manned mission to Mars is the next goal of human space explorers. Earth’s closest neighbor is expected to see new unmanned missions in 2020 and possibly even 2019. NASA is confident that it can launch its Exploration Mission 1 in 2019 which will lay the ground work for manned missions. Space-X, the European Space Agency, India and Japan all plan to launch probes and eventual manned missions in the coming decades. Currently, Mars as a destination is only possible by a few agencies on the planet. What will happen if these agencies do begin to colonize Mars? How will property rights extend to a truly uninhabited planet and what are the consequences of having no ownership?
Companies and individuals have already made property claims on various destinations in our solar system. Companies such as Lunar Land and Lunar Embassy sell property lots on the Moon, Mars and other bodies. Although these sales are a scam through and through, ownership of planets, asteroids, and space itself may become a big issue in the near future.
The most ideal view of land titles comes from first discovery. A piece of land that is unowned and undisputed is claimed by the first person capable of maintaining a presence. The idea of presence, is the long term acceptability associated with property rights. As much as I would like to look through a telescope and shop for my plot on the next habitable planet, claims like this have no meaning. Claims have to be defensible.
To make a claim on property, a person or organization has to have the ability to respond to tests of claim. This needs to be done timely, in the hopeful event interactions are peaceful, and forcibly if the interaction is not peaceful. The reality is that all property claims today are defended by the governments of the world. Until governments or private entities can defend their claims on extra-terrestrial bodies, the space just beyond Earth’s atmosphere belongs to the commons.
Resources held in ‘Commons’ are plagued with issues. The closest examples on earth would be international ocean waters or the atmosphere – both in composition and above 60,000 feet. Issues cited today would be ocean and air pollution. The issues in space will likely be amplified.
Mars has often been a potential candidate for terraforming. A country may decide to send a greenhouse emitting facility to Mars for the sole purpose of creating an atmosphere. The Indian Space Research Organisation sent their Mangalyaan Orbiter to space for only $73 million, bringing this type of approach in the realm of feasibility. How will the international community respond? What if a private colony arrived and destroyed the facilities on claims of ruining their planet?
The vast resources of space will have serious value in the future. Whether that be mining asteroids or turning Mars into a crop planet. Property titles will be as relevant as they are here on Earth. The space race is once again on!
Photos:
1.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/OSIRIS_Mars_true_color.jpg/1024px-OSIRIS_Mars_true_color.jpg
2.www.spacex.com/sites/all/themes/spacex2012/images/mars/bfr-payload.jpg
3.https://scienceogram.org/blog/2015/07/space-missions-cost-new-horizons/