Mars bonds: a tool for private colonization
of Mars
Mars Bonds: A tool for private colonization of Mars
by Richard Allen Brown
In reading Robert Zubrin's "A Case for Mars," I was intrigued by the possibility of private funding of Mars colonization. My proposal is fairly simple and easy to understand. There are four parts:
1. An insurance company such as Berkshire Hathaway would sell $20
billion in Mars Bonds to the public. Essentially each bond would
cost $20,000 and pay no interest over its one hundred year life.
The bond would give the holder the right to 100 square kilometers
or about 25 thousand acres on Mars. At the end of the 100 year period if the bond were not exercised, the holder would receive a return of principal.
2. The insurance company would invest the money on Earth and promise five per cent per year(or roughly the return on 10 year government notes) or $1 billion annually to fund Mars colonization projects. The insurance company would be looking for low cost alternatives to colonizing Mars with or without the help of NASA or other governmental agencies. If appropriate, an independent foundation would disperse the funds.
3. The U.S. based company would have to lay claim to Mars, which
would require ignoring the Outter Space Treaty which was never ratified by the United States. An appropriate lobbying effort would be needed. Mars colonization advocates could buy shares in the insurance company and leverage that ownership into a lobbying effort.
4. The privately funded colonization projects would ultimately
be successful and the insurance company would trade the bonds
for Mars land titles. Then the new land holders would pay taxes to the newly formed Mars government. The insurance company would have served its function and the Martians would be in control.
A form of this idea was delivered on August 14, 1998 at the Founding Convention of the Mars Society(see web siteMars Society) at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colorado. There are many extentions of this idea. A review of the conference by Sandra Blakelee appeared in the New York Times on August 18,1998 titled"Society Organizes to Make a Case for Humans on Mars" For an assessment of the Mars Society as a vehichle to colonize Mars see Next Steps for the Mars Society.
