Slavery On Mars?

This race to be the first country to colonize new planets and have humans in space is still taking place. The most common goals currently have been to build a colony on the Moon, to build a colony on Mars, and to construct free-floating space stations. The colonization of Mars is what will be focused on for the main topic of this paper, which the United States, China and Russia are looking to accomplish (though Russia has not been very forthcoming about their plans publicly). Though NASA is planning on sending a crew to Mars sometime in the 2030s— as they have been working on developing a technology to not only send humans to Mars, but also to return them back to Earth, China has the most detailed plan as to what they would like to accomplish in terms of colonizing Mars. China is still researching and developing the technology to get humans to and from Mars just as NASA is, but they are also looking into ways to shorten the travel time between the two planets. They’re hoping to develop rockets that could get humans to Mars and back within a few hundred days, but that requires a spacecraft that could tap into heat and electricity energy released from nuclear reactions (according to Wang Xiaojun, China’s head rocket maker) (Reuters, 2021). 

Though American space agencies are still in the race to reach Mars, it does not seem that the American citizens completely agree with this move. In a 2018 poll conducted by Pew Research Center, it was found that 50% of the American population believed that by 2068, it would be normal for ordinary people to travel into space. 32% believed that there would be colonies built in space that could be habitable for humans, however, 58% did say that they definitely or probably would not ever want to travel into space. 63% voted that NASA should be focusing more on studying and protecting the Earth’s climate, with only 18% saying that sending astronauts to Mars and 13% saying that sending astronauts to the moon should be NASA’s highest priority. Overall, it can be seen that even though half of the American population believes that space travel will be available and normalized by 2068, the majority of the population said they didn’t want to travel into space, and instead think that NASA should focus more on protecting the Earth from global warming (Space Colonization, 2023).

Though many believe that traveling to space will become a normality soon, they do not want to actually travel into space. So then how will space travel affect Earth’s population if one of the countries is able to build a colony on Mars? If people are unwilling to travel, will they have to be forced to in the name of bettering humanity? What will the first crew sent to Mars look like? Will it contain some of the rich businessmen involved in space exploration programs, or will it include astronauts, or members of the general population? Will you have to pay for a seat on the rocket, or would seats be distributed evenly across the population by either class or race? Who will be sent to build the colonies, prisoners or racial minorities who are looking to make more money? Though space colonization is an exciting idea, it does bring up questions pertaining to inequalities amongst the human population and how these may be capitalized upon as humanity travels into space.  

Before we can get into hypothetical situations about what will happen when we reach Mars, we need to know what’s already been decided about the red planet and space travel in general. The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom wrote what is called the “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies” in 1967. Being such a long name, it’s usually called the Outer Space Treaty instead. This treaty establishes laws in space and attempts to ensure peaceful and equal access to space. It was signed by more than 100 nations, and all of them are now held to these standards (Staedter, 2020).

The treaty does this by addressing the potential issues that could arise as more countries get access to space. Those issues include real estate in space, which is relevant in colonizing Mars. In order to colonize a place, a county must establish “ownership” of that land. According to the Outer Space Treaty, no nation can claim sovereignty over any celestial body by any means (Outer Space Treaty, 27 January, 1967). What that means is no one can assert ownership of Mars by colonizing it or using it in any other way. Like many laws, this can be interpreted differently depending on who you ask. Some interpret it as meaning no one can colonize Mars, while others take it to mean that nations can colonize Mars as long as they don’t say they own that land. 

However, the treaty has since been altered. Like the U.S. Constitution, it was made to be updated as society advanced. The United States Congress has made one modification in 2015, called the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015, helpfully shortened to the SPACE Act (Tracy Staedter, 2020). This law allows U.S. citizens to claim ownership of materials extracted from celestial bodies. While citizens and private companies still cannot own the land itself, they are allowed to mine the surface of Mars. (SPACE Act, 25 November, 2015)

All governments (those that have signed the Outer Space Treaty, at least) are held to the exact same standard in space. The treaty sets clear guidelines for what nations can and cannot do. It also sets guidelines for how nations interact in space. For example, astronauts are considered envoys of mankind in space and all nations who signed the treaty are required to offer any and all assistance possible to an astronaut in need in the event of an emergency (Outer Space Treaty, 27 January, 1967).

The United States government has more than one agency involved in space exploration and assorted space sciences, but NASA is the only body that actually visits space and the ISS. NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was founded in 1958 with the express purpose of space exploration and investigation. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but the operations centers are spread throughout the country. Other U.S. government agencies tangentially involved in space exploration are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Department of Energy (DOE) (Space Foundation Editorial Team, 2023).

JAXA is the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. It was founded in 2003 and was created by merging three already-existing institutions: the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). In April of 2015, JAXA was “upgraded” in a sense to become a National Research and Development Agency. The JAXA website is open to the American public, as well as their findings and history (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2003).

The CSA is the Canadian Space Agency. Created in March of 1989, Canada has, through its history with space exploration, been the most cooperative nation by far. With the exception of China, Canada has individual alliance agreements with all other nations involved in the “space race.” The CSA website lists a history of “Canadian space milestones.” This timeline includes discoveries made by Canadians, of course, but also includes things like the day NASA officially began operations or the day Sputnik One successfully launched (Government of Canada, 2023).

Roscosmos is Russia’s State Space Corporation; formerly the Federal Space Agency (created in 2004), but merged in August of 2015 with the United Rocket and Space Corporation. Today, Roscosmos is still the combination of both agencies (International Astronautical Federation, 2023). Given the war currently going on between Russia and Ukraine, it may come as no surprise that while Roscosmos’ website is not hidden on Google, it is inaccessible. Luckily, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) has some information on Roscosmos on their website. 

Europe has the European Space Agency, to which European countries either contribute, or under which they have their own branches of space exploration. Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom do not have their own agencies. Denmark contributes through the DNSC, France through CNES, Germany through DLR, Italy through ASI, Norway through NOSA, Spain through INTA, and Sweden through SNSB (Partners Sign ISS Agreements, 29 January, 1998).

The DNSC is the Danish National Space Center. No information is available for their website, appearing on Google in exactly the same way the Roscosmos site does. The CNES is the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, according to their French website, and the French Space Agency, according to their English site. The CNES has existed since 1961, supported by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Superior Education and Research. (French Space Agency, 2023) The DLR is the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, which translates to the German Center for Air- and Space-flight. The DLR was founded in 1959. (DLR, 2023) The ISA is the Italian Space Agency, founded in 1988. (ASI, 2023) NOSA is the Norwegian Space Agency, founded in 1947. (Norsk Romsenter, 2023) INTA is the National Institute of Aerospace Technology, founded in 1942 and dependent on the Spanish Ministry of Defencé. (INTA, 2023) The SNSB is the Swedish National Space Agency, Rymdstyrelsen, founded in 1972. (Wormbs and Källstrand, 2007)

As the only nation with solid plans to go to Mars, China is the most likely country to colonize Mars first. As mentioned before, with only one country in space, other countries have no certain way of knowing what exactly is happening there. We can’t predict the future, but we can make educated guesses about what China will do once they reach Mars. On Earth, China is known for their human rights violations. Most relevant here, however, are China’s forced labor policies. Ethnic and religious minorities, like Muslim Uyghurs, are often arbitrarily imprisoned, sometimes kept in extrajudicial internment camps and sometimes trafficked. Many are forced into labor and families are often punished for actions the Chinese government claims an individual has committed. (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, April 12, 2022, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China (Includes Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet), U.S. Department of State)

Mars colonization and private company involvement in space exploration have become increasingly relevant topics in recent years. Private companies have played a significant role in advancing space exploration, particularly in the development of rockets and spacecraft. Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic are some of the notable American private companies involved in space exploration.

Mars colonization has been a long-term goal of both government agencies and private companies. NASA has plans to send humans to Mars in the coming decades. Private companies are also working on developing technologies for Mars colonization, including Mars habitats, life-support systems, and Mars transportation systems.

Private companies may play a significant role in funding and executing Mars colonization missions. For example, SpaceX has plans to send its Starship spacecraft to Mars as early as 2024 (Duffy, 2020), with the goal of establishing a permanent human settlement on the Red Planet. Other private companies, such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, are also exploring the potential for Mars colonization.

There are several benefits to private company involvement in Mars colonization and space exploration more generally. Private companies may be more agile and innovative in their approach to space exploration, as they are not beholden to the same bureaucratic constraints as government agencies. Additionally, private companies may be able to leverage market forces to drive down costs and increase efficiency in space exploration.

However, there are also potential risks associated with private company involvement in Mars colonization and space exploration. Private companies may be motivated by profit rather than scientific discovery, which could lead to unethical practices or decisions. Additionally, private companies may not be subject to the same level of scrutiny and oversight as the government.

Musk has envisioned having a civilization on mars and is trying to do everything in his power to do so. He invests lots of money in space exploration and wants to make a “multi-planetary civilization" in the future and this is a stepping stone. “This is a multi-decadal or multi-generational project, you have to have continuity and this shows that it's possible." — Dr. Gareth Dorian, a space science research fellow at the University of Birmingham. Space exploration would change the way we do things, how people live, and would even split up families and friends if we got to the point where people had to go live on mars permanently (Howell, 2022).

NASA has worked with SpaceX to develop a lunar lander. A lunar lander is a spacecraft that was developed by SpaceX to land on the moon. It is meant to bring two humans to land on the moon and bring them back to orbit. This is one of the ways public and private companies worked together. The point of this is for NASA to find a base where there can be guaranteed light, elevation, and frozen water. Although this isn't directly related to space colonization there are some qualities that are required for habitable life in space.

There has been a long history of humans dividing each other by class, race, and ethnicity, particularly when it comes to colonization. Those who are sent to build the colony are not the same people who are in charge of society–they are considered the “lower” members of society for one reason or another. Overall, the world has a history of colonization and incarceration which have created inequalities amongst different groups of people. These social beliefs can influence who then would get sent first to build the colony, and then who gets sent to actually live in the colony once it is up and running and safe. 

The cheapest option, for the U.S. at least, will be to send incarcerated people to Mars to create the colony because they won’t have to pay them much, or anything at all. A single dollar an hour would be almost twice the current best conditions. Colonizing Mars will already be an expensive operation; it is likely that the U.S. will cut some corners ethically. 

Now, who is most often arrested? The Department of Justice noted in 2004 that 1,717 Latino inmates, 4,919 Black inmates, and 717 white inmates for every group of 100,000 inmates. In fact, for every 100,000 people living in the U.S., 743 of them were incarcerated. Without getting into why so many Black and Latino people are arrested, we can see that if incarcerated labor is used on Mars, the majority of people sent will be Black.

Based on the world view of incarcerated persons, it could be argued that they could be the first ones sent to Mars to build the colony. They owe humanity in some way for their crimes, and this hard labor would be almost like a community service option. But would they get the choice, or would certain prisoners be chosen and sent against their will?

The idea of space colonization, though incredible with the possibility of becoming a sci-fi fantastical reality, comes with the chance of fostering inequality amongst different groups of people. First of all, based on the Outer Space Treaty, no one country can ever lay claims on any planet, or part of a planet, as theirs. Each country can technically colonize a planet, but they can’t lay claim to the land. This fosters animosity on a large country scale. As no country has created a colony on a planet yet, this treaty has not come into play quite yet. But once a country does create a colony, they will inherently “claim” the land, and set off an argument amongst the countries. This treaty may be in effect now, but until a country actually builds a colony on another planet, this agreement still has room for changes. These countries are, for the most part, cooperating among each other on the ISS. 

Overall, the biggest question that space colonization introduces is who is going to be sent? Who is going to build the colony? Who gets to live in the colony once it is built? As the human race has a history of using those that are seen as “lesser” (such as racial minorities, members of the incarcerated population, and more) as slaves and laborers, it can be predicted that members of this “lesser” category might be the ones to be sent to Mars on the first test run where they would then build the colony under Mar’s non-Earth like conditions. Once everything was built and prepared, who then gets to live here? Those who labored over the building process, or those who paid for and funded the process? Would the leaders of the private companies, or powerful political members get to go first and live in the “luxury” created in the colony? As we have seen in history, this is a very real possibility with today’s political climate and varying beliefs on different races and cultures. 

There are many questions and concerns that space colonization raises pertaining to human equality. As space colonization is something that has not occurred yet, and will occur in the future, it can not be concluded as to who would be sent to build the colonies, or who would be sent to live there. But we can look back on human history and beliefs, and a picture begins to be formed as history repeats itself again and again. Humanity is determined to find a way into the stars, and we just have to wait and see what inequalities these decisions create. 

Erin LoMonaco, Architecture, 2024

Jessica Kane, Architecture, 2026

Lys Pascale, Legal Studies & Psychology, 2025

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