Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Crowdfunding a mars colony

Rand asks if a lunar colony can be crowd-funded. I ask the same of mars.

Amazingly we have an example for a jumping off point. Looking down the column of perks consider the perks a mars colony might offer in comparison:

Goal: $2b for a fully funded first landing of a dozen colonists.

$25
A framed picture of the first dozen martian colonists. Signed on the back by all. This will be transmitted digitally from mars, but produced and distributed here on earth.

$100 (Limited to first 6,000,000 participants, 30 million after the second landing)
Title to one half acre of mars, selected by you, made available from registered claims in the possession of colonists.

$250
All the above, plus we will rent your property for $20 per month ($240 annual) with annual option to renew. This rent allow us to use your property for industrial production of whatever we need on mars but not the right to remove minerals from your property.

$1000
All of the above, plus colonists will pay you $75 per month ($900 annual) for mineral rights with annual option to renew.

Thin film solar panels will be brought to mars. Eventually they will be manufactured on mars. Output: 500 watts per square meter. Cost: $100/m2. Mars One plans to take 3000 m2 (1.5 mW) with them from earth. Owners of property will have a place to put these panels which they may buy from martians and sell the power back to martians. The market place will determine all prices. Dust removal is a free service offered by the martians.

4 comments:

QuantumG said...

Heh. Perhaps something a little more incremental.

Did you see The Mars Society is trying to raise money against for FMARS? They're doing it in the old "please give us money, we'll give you nothing" way they always have.

ken_anthony said...

Incremental? You Trent are my inspiration not to go four when you can go twelve... but I get your point.

Show your work is what you're really saying and I've always had trouble with that. My professors, back when I was a wee lad, 200 lbs of muscle, have always told me, it's not enough to just have the right answers.

Hey, I'm working on it. But know that I do appreciate the occasional kick in the ass you offer.

ken_anthony said...

money for FMARS?

I think Zubrin is suffering from the constant assault he faces. It's hard to keep yourself up when years keep passing.

ken_anthony said...

To more directly respond. Crowd funding, if used at all, would only be part of a plan.

The incremental approach is to beg, borrow or steal $100m to put a ship in orbit, then use Bigelow's Alpha Station plan to make some money while also doing some sea trials around the moon to get the kinks out.

This alone could pay for the first mission. Throw in reality TV and real estate and I really do think the case closes.