We are living in a very interesting era where we have finally begun serious efforts towards expanding the human race out into the cosmos. Space exploration has been going on for centuries but it is now, that we are finally thinking about and doing things that will help us expand.

The great thing is that now, it's not only government agencies that are involved but private companies too. Thanks to this, we are seeing incredible innovations and breakthroughs that might ensure one day that we become interplanetary species.

Of course, there are a ridiculous amount of challenges ahead, so much so that many think that this will never be done. There are technological challenges, political, societal, and biological challenges and so much more.

The one I want to talk about today is regarding the political and legal aspects of it that we don't hear quite often. An interesting question that naturally arises is, 'who will have control over Mars or even parts of it?'

Countries on Mars?

We are all aware of how the human race spread over planet Earth and essentially colonised all of it and how over time, nations were formed. Now that a whole another planet is in the picture, one might ask if the same will happen there too.

There is a UN treaty in place called the Outer Space Treaty to which 107 countries are party to, which states that no government can lay claim to any celestial body. This would mean that there would be no countries on Mars like here on Earth.

But then, who will govern the people living there? I mean, governance is an important part of human civilisation and to set up a self-sustaining human settlement, important decisions would need to be made. Who would take those decisions?

If the US sends a settlement, or China sends a settlement, which country would decide how things would progress on the red planet? To make it more confusing, what if private entities like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos establish their own settlements. How would they all work together? Who would be in charge?

I saw a video of Neil deGrasse Tyson on this subject where he mentioned that things could change and what is likely to happen or rather be proposed is that "if you paid for the trip to Mars, and if you build your own house there, then you own that land." But this still wouldn't explain who would guide the development of the human race on the planet. This is quite interesting to think about!