Actually governments don’t have the right to claim any land outside this sphere. Legally. But when we talk about space our systems kinda become meaningless.
Private entities on the other hand aren’t mentioned in the treaty papers.
In order to be trespassing, you need to be in somebody else’s land. What would the government say to justify the arrest? You can’t arrest people without them breaking laws(well, terrorist suspicion bs aside).
And for the near feature there is actually no need to claim land. You can just go up there and build whatever and wherever you want. Since you are not building on somebody else’s land/jurisdiction, all people can do is throw disapproving glances at you when you get back.
[quote=“AngryMarine, post:22, topic:81”]You can’t arrest people without them breaking laws(well, terrorist suspicion bs aside).
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It’s been done before and it’l keep happening. (Oh god, look at how I accidentally destroyed the topic at hand.)
So how about that guy who use to own paypal and his space company?
Again, I ask who is going to stop them? If they’re arrested on US soil, it can be justified as being arrested for fraud (what claim do they have to celestial land they’re not currently squatting on?). If they’re actually on the other planet, what justification do they need? They don’t seem to need any when making other arrests outside of US soil.
No, they can also prevent you from ever returning. Launch vehicles need to be cleared to pass through national air space. They can deny them the right to travel through that air space, and shut them down from Earth.
The government can get away with arresting unknown people that are considered terrorists. Famous private sector american astronauts is a different matter. We are talking about people with some very expensive lawyers and the media on speed dial.
Though I agree that if they wanted to, they could. But arresting their own astronaut citizens/pioneers would be counter-productive. Eventually those companies would end up going to any random country that accepted them, and the US would have an even more tarnished reputation for little gain.
If they don’t get permission to land in US soil/waters, I’m sure there are a bunch of other places they could land.
And finally, as I said, claiming land isn’t necessary, nor guarantees anything. If in the far future that land turns out to be lucrative, laws could be made to add taxes to any activity on other planets by american companies. Its much less expensive than arresting US citizens, driving away high tech companies from the country and increasing NASA’s budget so they can get the rockets/tech to go there and claim whatever profits they want.
The point is to go there and not return. A Mars to stay mission is what I’m hoping for and what (I think) most people want.
Edit: That wasn’t your point, nvm.
BBC News - Mars One to launch first test mission
Well it appears it’s on some people’s minds… although who knows how far this will actually get. Making it a one-way trip though is a big step. It makes the whole thing a lot simpler and forces them to methods of long-term survival instead of retrieval.