The Mars land grab

Picture: SpaceX The questions of how humans will get to Mars and how they will survive there have understandably received most attention, but at some point there will have to be a discussion about how to allocate land and resources. The international Outer Space Treaty of 1967 forbids the establishment of military bases or the deployment of weapons in space or on any planet other than Earth. It is not terribly clear on private ownership, which wasn’t really an issue in 1967. It might be settled in the old-fashioned way of finders keepers. Given the deteriorating relations between the US and everyone else, we might see a space race like the one that took place during the Cold War, although unless they are keeping very quiet about it, the Russians don’t seem to be making much effort to claim the red planet. Nasa’s recruitment posters for brave souls to apply for Mars experiments called for farmers, teachers, surveyors and other professionals to apply. The posters were largely tongue-in-cheek, but the technology to grow food in space is one of the agency’s priorities. A study monitoring the cultivation of plants on the International Space Station is under way, so maybe those farmers will be needed after all.