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A comment on A roadmap to an industrially self-sufficient Mars base in the minimum time. Parent comment

Re:A roadmap to an industrially self-sufficient Mars base in... by delegate on Saturday May 13, 2017 @10:40AM (#14331203)
The author seems to forget that Russia (then USSR) was the first to put a man into space, while under an economic blockade ...

And what does it have to do with Mars anyway ? Are we going to take our primitive geopolitical structure that we have on Earth and implement it on Mars too ?

In fact, I think this will be an even tougher challenge than the technological one:

Who owns the equipment sent from Earth, the land, the resources that are being extracted ? Countries/companies/individuals from Earth ? How are they going to enforce that and guard against a revolution ? (Space police, killer robots ?) What if a conflict arises between the colony and Earth ?

Technological challenges - I think we'll figure them out - but these 'soft' aspects - I'm not sure I want all this bullshit to spread around the Solar System thank you.

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Re:A roadmap to an industrially self-sufficient Mars base in... by pleboidal on Saturday May 13, 2017 @11:37AM (#14331479) 

  How are they going to enforce that and
  guard against a revolution?
So, your telling me you want people to fly to Mars, under oath that they will always pay the rent, pay the tithe, and disavow ownership of the equipment their lives depend on, possibly letting others enable or disable it based on fealty and political alignment?

  Who owns the equipment sent from Earth?
The people riding it to Mars and using it when they land. Anything else is pretty much suicide. When you go to Mars, you might not come back. No one wants a EULA between them and their life support system.
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Re:A roadmap to an industrially self-sufficient Mars base in... by Boothroid on Saturday May 13, 2017 @11:42AM (#14331502)
Given the US's history it's interesting to speculate how they might respond to Martian attempts to throw off the colonial yoke!
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