Revised Settlement Charter

This is a revision of an earlier post. Update: Final Charter.

Space Settlement Charter

To expand the human community economic sphere.

Settlement of the solar system will only happen when the economic motivations encourage it which is the purpose of this document. Members of this charter include any that agree to its terms and join in defending it and its members. You do not need to make a claim to be a member.

Some fundamental principles:

• This charter will be a legally binding contract on it's members.
• The only justification required for colonization is that people want to go, assuming they do not force other people to pay for it.
• The chain of ownership of all property begins as part of a claim. Chain of title starts with a claim and determines ownership.
• The universe is currently full of unclaimed property and legally binding claims may be made by members according to the terms of this charter.
• Individual members of this charter shall each make one reasonable claim.
• This charter defines a reasonable claim to be one square kilometer surface area, surrounded by a perimeter road, including all rights of ownership to a reasonable depth (to be determined by members.)
• People are not the property of their governments. They do not require the blessings of their governments to assert their rights.
• Freedom requires consent. Consent must be true and not a fiction imposed by others. Absolute property rights means that no others may impose a tax (by any name) on a property owner without their true consent or by threat or by force.
• The 'public' does not have superior rights to the individual. Anything the 'public' needs can be accomplished by contract between people. Using force beyond freely agreed terms is tyranny.
• There is no such thing as intrinsic value. Value is determined by each individual person which is the basis of all free trade.
• Wealth is created from nothing by free trade.
• Colonization is not likely to be economically feasible for most individuals now or anytime in the foreseeable future. This charter will provide economic motivation for transportation companies to provide both free passage and supplies/equipment to create a positive reinforcement to encourage settlement.
• Colonists are risking their lives. They should not arrive on a new world as slaves or in poverty.

A registry will be established to record claims and chain of title. A member is entitled to only make a single claim (one sq. km.) by possession (a boot print on the claim witnessed) after intent to a claim is established in the registry in an orderly manner. The new owner may sell or lease it in whole or in parts, developed or undeveloped, as soon as the claim is registered and possessed with the condition that any subsection sold must have access to the perimeter road. A member may of course purchase other land from other members that have title by the terms of this charter by agreement without further restrictions.

A transportation company may make thousand(s) of one sq. km. claims, according to the following terms:

To qualify for claims a company must transport colonists free of charge alive to the martian surface with a working space suit and supplies. Supplies for the trip shall be provided by the transportation company free of charge. The space suit becomes the property of the individual colonists and is part of their mass allotment to the surface. Supplies for the surface, other than the space suit, will be purchased before the trip at the colonists expense and discretion. Total mass shall be one metric ton per colonist to the surface which includes the mass of the colonist and all his or her provisions. Each of the company claims, up to 1000 per colonist, must identify the unique individual claim that authorizes the company claim. The transportation company must wait at least one hour between registering each claim.

To be explicit: If a company transports a dozen people, they are entitled to 12,000 sq. km. after all of those colonists make their single claims. It would take at least 17 months for the company to register all those claims; however, they could begin selling plots from claims already made within an hour.

The transportation company may use subcontractors during different phases of transportation, but on their own terms which do not change the terms of this charter. This means only the transportation company can make company claims, but they could then transfer title to subcontractors on whatever terms are agreeable between them.

No claim will be made by any member (this includes any transportation company) that is not in the registry. To do so nullifies their membership and any legal protection by this charter or by other members. The registry will do all it can to avoid this situation.

It is understood that the economic motivation for transportation companies goes up as it's costs go down. This is why competition from many transportation companies is encouraged.

It is also understood that land value goes up with population. This means that in time the economic motivation will only get better and better. Let the land rush begin.

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Using mars as an example; Elon Musk and Robert Zubrin have independently determined that the cost per person of transportation to mars in a few decades should be about $500k per person. We have determined that even at 100 times that cost a transportation company would make a profit selling half acre plots to people on earth for around $100 each. Which means only $1 per plot if Musk or Zubrin are correct. We need look no further for an economic incentive that opens up the solar system.

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Can colonist live on mars? Yes, but to avoid a suicide mission they must have the skills for a complete ISRU industrial ecology. This means they must be able to produce on mars the few dozen items required for their own life support and have the capability of making almost anything else. This requires a minimum of about four dozen colonists. Until then, supplies from earth could provide a supplement to the colonists resources. An estimate is that four tons of supplies could be sent to the surface of mars using a Dragon 2 lander for about $150m.

Update: The proposed Mars One lander should deliver 2500 kg to the martian surface for about $190m (including up to four crew.)

Update: Possible modification. When ten percent of the land on a body has been claimed (14.4 million sq. km. in the case of mars) the transportation companies total claims are reduced by 10% to 900 sq. km. per colonist claim. When the second 10% has been claimed, the transportation company may only claim 800 and so forth. Finally when 90% has been claimed, the transportation company may only claim 100 sq. km. per colonist claim.