Elon Musk's SpaceX to follow 'self-governing principles' on Mars, rejects Earth's laws

CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk, who had talked about 'colonizing Mars' several times, wants to make his own laws on the red planet.

The tech mogul has said that once SpaceX reaches Mars, it will colonize the planet as there are no “universal laws on planet”. All Martian settlement will be dealt with using "self-governing principles”, Musk said in a document that lists Terms of Service of its Starlink internet project, declaring himself the governing entity in space. Further, the rocket company's satellite-based internet service, Starlink suggests that it will not recognize the land-based international law that governs Earth on the red planet. 

With plans of colonizing the celestial body with constellations of Starlink satellites, the rocket firm SpaceX's Starlink's beta consumer service terms further suggest, “For services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonization spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.” In its governing law section, Musk insists that all space disputes will be decided based on self-established laws “in good faith”, at the time of Martian settlement. 

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Space 'by all, for all and to all'

In the declaration drafted by the Earthlight Foundation (ELF), a non-profit organization that aims at expansion of humanity beyond Earth, SpaceX’s Musk declared that space should be "considered free, by all, for all and to all.” According to Erwan Beauvois who works for Earth observation image processing for a CNES laboratory and coordination of fleets of autonomous robots for mapping unknown environments, in ONERA, said that SpaceX state was in accordance with Earthlight Foundation’s declaration. SpaceX also aims to build a self-sufficient city on Mars. The company sent out its first round of beta invites to interested parties to take part in the “Better Than Nothing Beta” by paying an upfront fee of $499. 

[Credit: Reddit/u/FourthEchelon19]

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