Who’s Going to Set the Laws for Potential Mars Colonists?
With the hype and excitement about the actual getting people to Mars and surviving for more than a few seconds, many people may not have thought about what things will be like if humans do settle there.
With the hype and excitement about the actual getting people to Mars and surviving for more than a few seconds, many people may not have thought about what things will be like if humans do settle there. For instance, will the people of Mars live by the same laws as us Earthlings or will have their own rules to go by? Possibly not is the answer.
According to the Outer Space Treaty that was drawn up in 1967, it’s not possible for anyone to own a celestial body, but the rules do say that anyone is free to reside there and start a whole new society if they so wish. Although Musk’s colony wouldn’t strictly be an American colony they will still reside by American Laws as both the spacecraft they are traveling in and SpaceX is American. Obviously, there needs to be some form of law in place for the Mars colonists, so why not American?Currently, there is no specific license needed in regards to space colonization, but with the number of space travel tourism companies arising, something may need to be drawn up soon, or we are at risk of destroying yet another planet in our solar system but in a different way. The Outer Space Treaty states that we need to avoid contamination of other planets as microbes found on Earth could affect life elsewhere. So, to avoid this from happening spacecraft are told to decontaminate their vessels as much as they can. But, how is this type of decontamination going to happen regarding humans?
It’s clear that there are still many things that need to be figured out before colonization is even possible, and Elon Musk still has some serious planning to do before SpaceX takes off and should be prepared for some stern opposition along the way. If the U.S. does decide on some form of licensing, then he may be forced to change some of his dreams, but only time will tell, and we will have to wait and see what comes of it.
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Rachel Kowalski
Rachel Kowalski is the Cybersecurity Analyst at TrendinTech, where she covers vulnerabilities, ransomware, supply chain attacks, nation-state operations and the security rules shaping organizations in the United States and Europe. Before moving into journalism she worked as a threat intelligence analyst at a security vendor and later reported for CyberScoop and the security desk at Wired, covering the SolarWinds compromise and the ransomware wave that hit hospitals and pipelines. Rachel holds a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from the Georgia Institute of Technology and attends Black Hat and DEF CON in Las Vegas each year, where she follows research from the security community. She writes to make risks and countermeasures understandable to people who are not specialists.
All stories by Rachel Kowalski (214)