In an announcement that anti-statists everywhere have been waiting for, a private firm, 4Frontiers, has announced plans to colonize and mine the planet Mars.
From the Wired article:
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The new company, 4Frontiers, plans to mine Mars for building materials and energy sources, and export the planet’s mineral wealth to forthcoming space stations on the moon and elsewhere.The company also wants to build the first permanent human settlement on Mars, using strictly Martian materials, as early as 2025. The idea is to make Mars a center for needs of the solar system economy, said Bruce Mackenzie, co-founder of 4Frontiers and the company’s vice president and outreach director.
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I give it two years after first colonization before they have a ‘living, breathing’ constitution and guaranteed free healthcare for all. You can’t change the locale and expect human nature to change along with it.
Scott S,
You may not be able to change people, but, given that no one has any legit claim to any Martian acreage, it would be easier to demonstrate a homesteading claim, and thus to achieve a legal system by consent of those subject to it (i.e. by requiring some sort of waiver, etc. be signed for entry).
DC
Dick,
It’s an interesting idea, but the economics just don’t make sense yet, IMO. Since the time horizon you’re looking at before you could make a profit is so long, they’re going to have a hard time raising money. Unless they can come up with some interesting, nearer term markets they can serve with their technologies….We’ll see.
~Jon
The economic center of the solar system would be the Jovian system.
Rather than distance, the ease of access to items in space is measured in the velocity change needed to reach one orbit or land on one body from another orbit or body.
The Jovian moons provide large quantities of water ice with a very low delta-v when compared to other celestial bodies. Additionally, bodies with atmospheres are harder to launch from. So Mars compares quite unfavourably to Ganymede as a location for human colonization.
Of course the Jovian system has its hazards: Jupiter’s magnetic field and the charged particles it traps produce large quantities of ionizing radiation. Additionally, the huge gravity well of Jupiter (and its proximity to the asteroid belt) make impacts and collisions with debris a more significant risk. While airless bodies are easier to leave, the lack of atmosphere means that even small objects can reach the surface.
There are also political risks: it is unlikely that a colony would be self-sufficient, and if embargoed by Earth will likely die. Discovery of life on Europa and if envrionmentalists/luddites convert its legal status to that of a wild-life preserve a la the Star Trek non-intervention principle would deprive colonists of a major source of water. The hostile environment would mean that local strongmen would hold more sway (since it is harder to exit the colony).
I don’t view space colonization as a reasonable way to escape government tyranny. The barriers to individual action are too high.
Although, it would be nice if I were wrong…
Government seems very unnatural to me…..can’t change human nature…true…..but government isn’t natural
I think these guys are going to make a fortune…on the reality TV show of course! Imagine “Real World – Mars.”
“We took 12 people on a nine month space journey, just to find out if they could get along on a different planet…”
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Well, they really have no business plan, it looks like “vaporware”. But, it is intersting… the first to get to mars, owns it.
Er .. Mars huh?
Bananas,
The frontier issue is interesting, as the devil truly is in the details.
How much of Mars does the first Martian settler own: as much as he can see? When the second Martian settler lands, how much does he own?
How much of Mars does the first Martian settler own?
That is an interesting question. I think most “natural rights” theorists would say that he owns whatever he “mixes his labor” with, but that’s a bunch of nonsense.
I’d say he owns whatever he can control or defend. That may be all of Mars. But there would be strong incentives to sell bits off at reasonable prices.
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