The other day I was talking about the idea of colonisation of other planets and how we are at the cusp of doing just that, starting with the Moon and Mars in the 2020s and 2030s. As I was talking about it, I realised something.

In the beginning, our mission would be to find habitable planets for us or make them habitable if we can do so (as in the case of Mars), so that we can expand our presence in the cosmos and finally become a spacefaring civilisation.

But as we set up things more and more start establishing colonies on these celestial bodies, an interesting conundrum will appear. Who is supposed to be incharge?

Down here on Earth, there are fixed geographical boundaries and governments of nations run things, and there is rule of law. But what about these other planets? If some country reaches a planet first, could it claim the whole planet to itself?

The Outer Space Treaty

There exists something called the Outer Space Treaty that more than a hundred countries are a part of. This treaty prohibits the member countries to claim any celestial body for itself.

Article II of the treaty specifically states this. “Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means”.

But there are lots of questions still. First, the treaty itself is more of a guideline and not a law. However nations seem to be following it in fear of actions from the others. Second, although the treaty states that governments are supposed to monitor private entities (SpaceX, for example), nothing stops them from actually going to Mars and claiming it!

What about when multiple private entities land there and start fighting over the planet? Are we to repeat the same story there too? And what about governance? If we are to have a self sustaining population there, we will need a system. Who will be in charge? Will the people in charge be independent from Earth’s laws?

A One World People?

Sometimes I wonder what the future of the human race will be like. Will be become even more divided or become more and more united? I mean, technology has already rendered national boundaries meaningless as we are closer together than ever before.

In five hundred years from now or maybe even a thousand, could it be that the whole of Earth unites to become one? Such a system could bring utopia or dystopia to the planet, depending on how its done and more importantly, handled.

But let’s say if things go right and we do indeed become one people, just like the sci-fi movies, then it would make space exploration much easy. There wouldn’t be any question of whom the celestial bodies belong to or whom the infinite resources of the universe belong to.

We would be one and wherever we go, we could claim it for humanity, of course, not harming any other life forms that might already exist there because then we would just be conquerors and would ensue another series of wars.