Economic Plan For Mars Colonization

Hanley, Brian
Konnectworld, Inc., (415) 461-8153
mailto:brian.hanley@konnectworld.com

In: On To Mars 2, edited by Zubrin, RM, and Crossman, F. Collector's Guide Publishing Inc. (2002)

Economics is the means by which a culture is allowed to express its values. Space exploration and colonization of the planets has been assumed only fundable by governments, or rich individuals governments. However, by a judicious program of leveraging skills and human networks, it is possible to develop the resources necessary over a 20 to 30 year period. This paper discusses the approach of looking at activist groups for interplanetary exploration and colonization from the perspective of economic development theory. The development of an economic infrastructure for the Mars Society group is also crucial for its long-term viability.

While tremendous technical work has been done that lays out exactly how to get to Mars, how to terraform it, and some minor economic analyses have been done of businesses that could potentially result, we need to fill in a gap – how do we get from where we are now to a colony which is self sustaining? Money. How do we create it?

Keywords

Private Funding and Commerical Investment