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http://www.autodidacts.io/who-will-own-mars/
Everyone's excited about rockets to Mars, and each SpaceX launch brings that dream closer to reality. Musk and others are putting a lot of money and brainpower on the technical problem of getting people to Mars. Less sensational topics, such as surviving on Mars, receive less attention — but plenty of money and serious thought, because there's no way to get around them.
But there's another important question which isn't getting much attention:
Who will own Mars, and how will it be governed?
Does Mars belong to the people who get there first? To the highest bidder? To all the people of Earth?
Does Mars belong to Earth, or does Mars belong to Mars? Does it belong to the Sun? To the Martian microbiome, if there is one? (What are the indigenous rights of microbes, I wonder?)
Who will be in charge of Mars once the colonists arrive? If Mars turns out to have valuable resources, who gets them? And if a Mars colony is to govern itself, what kind of government would it have?
The Mars colonization project is driven by the ultra rich. And those who want to stake their claim on Mars may rather the rest of us didn't think too much about the little problem of who owns the planet next door, and why.
(Score: 2) by TheLink on Saturday April 01 2017, @11:31AM
You all can have Mars. I'll have these asteroids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_asteroids#Largest_by_mass [wikipedia.org]
If I have to I'd settle for just Ceres and 16 Psyche.
Why are so many people so fixated on Mars? The gravity, atmosphere, etc are "wrong" so why put so much resources into such a significant gravity well?
Those vast tracts of land are unusable unless you cover them (for pressurization). Expensive. And where's the scientific evidence that humans can stay healthy long term in Mars gravity? Many claim to be willing to spend a lot on going to Mars but few seem interested and willing to pay to conduct such experiments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifuge_Accommodations_Module [wikipedia.org]
It's harder to fake Earth gravity on the surface of Mars than it is to fake it in orbit. You might even be able to fake it on the surface of smaller asteroids that have very low gravity.