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""" The Starlink terms of service contain a section stating that in the event that SpaceX will reach Mars and establish service there, the company will have ful
by nullish_signal 4y ago
""" The Starlink terms of service contain a section stating that in the event that SpaceX will reach Mars and establish service there, the company will have full independence from any government on Earth.
"For Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities," the Starlink terms of service read. "Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement." """
Very interesting. Perhaps this is why Musk doesn't mind paying out-of-pocket to provide Starlink service in Ukraine.
Indebting all parties in the war to his vision for multi-planetary independance?
- wmf 4y agoThis is illegal under the Outer Space Treaty. I'm tempted to say it's a joke but Elon may be able to outmaneuver whoever would enforce that treaty.
- bushbaba 4y agoThe space force will enforce the USA needs on the Martians! Also the us military assisted spaceX in its development. There’s a reason spaceX has ITAR compliance needs.
- snovv_crash 4y agoITAR compliance is a requirement for anything which could be repurposed for certain classes of weapons. Working on an aircraft autopilot requires ITAR compliance.
- jandrese 4y agoKind of a joke, but honestly there's not much someone on Earth could do to enforce their will on Mars. In practical terms they are on their own regardless.
- dogma1138 4y agoYes there is just like it’s done on earth at the point of a gun, all laws are enforced at the end of the day by gunpoint.
- ragebol 4y agoExcept that it takes about 6 months for a gun from Earth to get to Mars. It's hard governing a place you can't easily reach. And if a Mars colony really is self sustaining, stopping supply runs also doesn't do as much as you'd maybe like. Sending a gun(ship) might also be prohibitively expensive. There's probably a lot of fiction written about exactly this topic. Maybe the Martians could buy their independence with Epstein drives.
- maxerickson 4y agoIt's likely enough that the Mars end of the service would enjoy being able to communicate with the ground stations on Earth.
- mlindner 4y agoThe Outer Space Treaty is a treaty between governments. As a rule, treaties only apply to governments. So SpaceX can say whatever they like in a document, as it's legal to do so in the US and then act upon it based on US law. From my understanding this means that they can claim it all they like, but if they tried to enforce that claim against anyone it wouldn't work.
- zeristor 4y agoI beleive a number of European countries are now covering Starlinks costs in keeping Ukraine connected.
- KyeRussell 4y agoThis might just be my distaste of Musk showing, but whilst under most other circumstances I’d assume that this was entirely a joke but in this case it does seem consistent with Musk’s libertarian space fetishism. The extraterrestrial pecking order has zero chance of being independent of Earth’s. I find it hard to believe that Musk would be all for holding hands and singing kumbaya if things started swaying away from…anarcho-capitalism.
- maxerickson 4y agoYeah, a contract is totally going to stop government from forcing them to do something in the future. Absolutely.
- deterministic 4y agoVery naive. A planet without a single monopoly on violence (aka a government) will quickly get one or have N competing groups fighting to become one. There is a reason why we called countries without a functioning government a “failed state”.
- wmf 4y agoOh there will be government on Mars... and Elon wants it to be him.
- deterministic 4y agoYep. He will control the flights to and from Mars. That’s a lot of power.