Viewpoint Political and legal challenges in a Mars colony Konrad Szocik a, * , Kateryna Lysenko-Ryba b , Sylwia Bana  s c , Sylwia Mazur d a Department of Cognitive Science, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland b Chair of Process Engineering, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland c Chair of Administrative Law, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland d Institute for Researches on Civilizations, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland article info Article history: Received 18 March 2016 Accepted 25 May 2016 Available online 31 May 2016 Keywords: Mars Colonization Legal system abstract In our essay we are going to briefly discuss some legal and political questions associated with the future colonization of Mars which is now being planned by NASA and the second one is known as Project MarsOne. We assume that it will be unclear as to which legal and political solutions could work in the new Martian ecological niche. Here we will show that this issue requires more attention because we unable to predict which elements of human nature will dominate the lives of the Mars colonizers. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The exploration and colonization of other cosmic places seems to be the next stage of human development. NASA is preparing for deep space missions to Mars. 1 The European Space Agency (ESA) mentions the opportunity to launch permanent bases on the Moon. 2 These expansions have various motives. One of them is outlined by Elon Musk, who suggests sending one million people to Mars because the future existence of humanity on the Earth is threatened. 3 In this context the idea of the colonization of outer space is interpreted as a unique possibility for the survival of the humanity. Expected future dangers on the Earth are perhaps a good reason to really think about moving human life to Mars. Another reason is associated with the human ability to expand. Humans have settled in all ecological niches on the Earth despite very different and difficult conditions for life. This outer space expansion could be a good backdrop and provide a catalyst for highly advanced developments in the fields of technology and science. Deep space missions could be a good place for testing new solutions. Astronauts who will be sent on deep space missions will be under intensive selective pressure. This pressure theoretically could affect the path of future human evolution. How to predict behaviors and reactions of human body and psyche on Mars? Now we can study it on The International Space Station. Its microgravitational environment enables testing of the human organism. However, we cannot predict the cultural evolu- tion of Martian politics, society and it’s legal system. We have found some ethical and cultural issues 4 as well as the problematic nature of cooperation in such a difficult environment. 5 In this paper we will be focusing on some particular questions associated with the possible political, social and legal challenges faced by a future Mars colony. The question of the long journey to Mars seems to be a very hard challenge for these astronauts. It is not clear how long this journey will take or how long the first mission will last. 6 The distance be- tween these two planets is from 55 million to ca. 100 million km * Corresponding author. University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland, Department of Cognitive Science, Sucharskiego 2 Street, 35-225 Rzesz ow, Poland. E-mail addresses: kszocik@wsiz.rzeszow.pl (K. Szocik), klysenko@wsiz.rzeszow. pl (K. Lysenko-Ryba), sbanas@wsiz.rzeszow.pl (S. Bana s), smazur@wsiz.rzeszow.pl (S. Mazur). 1 NASA’s Journey to Mars. Pioneering next steps in space exploration, NASA, Washington 2015. 2 http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2016/02/ESA_Euronews_Moon_ Village. 3 http://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/9914-elon-musk-s-plans-for- sending-1-million-people-to-mars-for-500-000-each. 4 K. Szocik, Unseen challenges in a Mars colony, Spaceflight, January 2016, Vol 58, pp. 20e23. 5 K. Szocik, Etyczne i polityczne problemy kolonizacji Marsa, Astronomia, nr 45, marzec 2016, pp. 28e29. 6 http://www.mars-one.com/faq/mission-to-mars/how-long-does-it-take-to- travel-to-mars (15.02.16). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Space Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spacepol http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.012 0265-9646/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Space Policy 38 (2016) 27e29