Legalities of Colonizing Mars
Throughout the more than a century of observation through telescopes and the visits of orbiters and landers, Mars has fascinated the human race. Much smaller than the Earth, the surface area is about equivalent to the land area on Earth. The gravity on Mars is about a thirty eight percent of Earth gravity and the mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere is very thin.
Although there has been a lot of discussion about visiting Mars and even colonization in the past few years, I have not blogged about it very much. It is true that human beings can walk on the surface of Mars with protection from the low temperatures, low atmospheric pressure and lack of oxygen but it is a very inhospitable place none the less. I honestly believe that the odds of colonization in any meaningful way in the next fifty years are slim to none. Traveling to Mars by current propulsion systems would take months and expose astronauts to the deleterious effects of radiation and zero gravity. In addition to the lack of oxygen and the extreme temperatures, the sand on the surface of Mars contains perchlorates which are very toxic chemical dangerous to human health.
Even though Mars is a harsh place that would be difficult to get to, individuals and organizations have been hatching plans to send enough people there to found a self-sustaining colony. For the foreseeable future, anyone participating in such an effort will have to accept that it will be a one-way trip and they will die on Mars. Setting aside the technical details of going to Mars and setting up a colony which will be dealt with in future posts, today I am going to talk about some legal issues that will be involved in colonization of Mars.
While current space treaties say that astronomical bodies in space belong to everyone and cannot be owned by anyone, there is nothing specific in the treaties that prohibits setting up a colony on Mars. There is a strict prohibition against sending weapons of mass destruction into space. And, of course, the colonists could not own the land that they settled on. Otherwise, as long as such a colony did not violate the rest of provisions of the space treaties, it would be legal.
If colonists arrived on a United States spacecraft, regardless of where it was launched from, they would be subject to U.S. law. With respect to systems of governance of a colony, there could be a variety of choices as long as they do not violate U.S. law. In order to launch a mission into space, you need to apply for a license from the country of origin, the U.S. in this case. Currently, there is no specific license that can be sought for setting up a colony in space. But, considering all the private companies getting into the space industry, that is something that may need to be remedied sooner rather than later.
There is an unofficial agreement between the signatories of space treaties not to pollute bodies in space. This applies generally to trash and polluting substances but more specifically to not taking Earth microbes to an astronomical body that has conditions that might allow them to survive and spread, competing with and, perhaps, wiping out indigenous life. Ironically, the places on Mars where that would be most applicable such as areas where liquid water are present would also be the areas where it would be most attractive to colonize. It would be best to have some sort of governing legal framework in place before such biological contamination becomes an issue.
Along with discussions of the technical problems that need to be solved in order to colonize Mars, there also needs to be parallel development of legal frameworks to govern such future colonies.
