The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

Scott Beach · 2022-07-10 17:15:49

When a small unincorporated association grows into a "large" organization the members may vote to change the association's status to that of a corporation. This sort of change can be authorized by a specific provision of a state's corporation laws. This "change of status" idea is embedded in my constitutional convention proposal.

Initially, an international regime uses the name "Government of Mars". Eventually, the regime is transformed into an actual government at a constitutional convention. This could happen when martian civilization becomes robust enough to support a planetary government.

[DRAFT] Agreement to Establish an International Regime Named Government of Mars

Article I. The parties to this Agreement hereby establish an international regime named Government of Mars. As used in this Agreement, regime means "a system or planned way of doing things".

Article II. This international regime shall support the orderly establishment of permanent human settlements on Mars.

Article III. A martian settlement plan may be authored and signed by five or more people. A martian settlement plan may specify settlement borders that enclose up to 10,000,000 square meters (about 36 square miles or one township).

Article IV. The Martian Settlement Plan Depository is hereby established. All of the settlement plans in the Depository shall be publicly available via the Internet.

Article V. The Secretary of State of the Government of Mars shall maintain the Martian Settlement Plan Depository. The offices of the Secretary of State shall be known as the Mars Secretariat.

Article VI. A martian settlement plan may be submitted to the Secretary of State. If a settlement plan clearly and completely specifies the borders of the proposed settlement then that plan may be added to the Depository. However, if a plan specifies borders that conflict with the borders in a perviously filed settlement plan then the conflicting plan shall not be added to the Depository.

Article VII. When five or more settlements have been established in accordance with this Agreement, three or more settlements may call a Constitutional Convention. The Convention my adopt a Constitution that transforms this international regime into a government that exercises dominion over Mars or over specified portions of Mars.

JohnX · 2022-07-10 18:49:07

Scott, to my limited grasp of law & political science, this sounds great, although establishing a Mars Secretariat might sound like a provocative or fringe eccentric act to most of the world unless those involved include some (1) very rich business people and (2) experienced astronauts and (3) well-known scientists, and coming from a variety of nations. How do you see this being put into action, realistically?

Here's a slightly copy-edited version. I think 10 sq km would be about 3.8 sq miles.

[DRAFT] Agreement to Establish an International Regime Named Government of Mars
Article I. The parties to this Agreement hereby establish an international regime named Government of Mars. As used in this Agreement, regime means "a system or planned way of doing things".
Article II. This international regime shall support the orderly establishment of permanent human settlements on Mars.
Article III. A Martian settlement plan may be authored and signed by five or more people. A Martian settlement plan may specify settlement borders that enclose up to 10,000,000 square meters (about 3.8 square miles or one township).
Article IV. The Martian Settlement Plan Depository is hereby established. All of the settlement plans in the Depository shall be publicly available via the Internet.
Article V. The Secretary of State of the Government of Mars shall maintain the Martian Settlement Plan Depository. The offices of the Secretary of State shall be known as the Mars Secretariat.
Article VI. A Martian settlement plan may be submitted to the Secretary of State. If a settlement plan clearly and completely specifies the borders of the proposed settlement then that plan may be added to the Depository. However, if a plan specifies borders that conflict with the borders in a previously filed settlement plan then the conflicting plan shall not be added to the Depository.
Article VII. When five or more settlements have been established in accordance with this Agreement, three or more settlements may call a Constitutional Convention. The Convention may adopt a Constitution that transforms this international regime into a government that exercises dominion over Mars or over specified portions of Mars.

Scott Beach · 2022-07-11 11:40:36

JohnX asked,

How do you see this being put into action, realistically?

Article 11(5) of the Moon Treaty reads, in part, "States Parties to this Agreement hereby undertake to establish an international regime, including appropriate procedures, to govern the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon as such exploitation is about to become feasible".
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moon_Treaty#Article_11

If we wait for the "States Parties" (the national governments) to establish an international regime for Mars then it will never happen.

Should the Mars Society and other space advocacy groups support the establishment of an international regime that will eventually transform itself into a sovereign martian government? Yes. We can do that much ourselves. We can also ask people to demonstrate their commitment to the settlement of Mars by filing a martian settlement plan. People who file such plans can then ask their national governments to provide funding for the construction of martian settlements.

Scott

JohnX · 2022-07-11 20:11:32

Scott Beach wrote:

JohnX asked,
How do you see this being put into action, realistically?
Should the Mars Society and other space advocacy groups support the establishment of an international regime that will eventually transform itself into a sovereign martian government? Yes. We can do that much ourselves. We can also ask people to demonstrate their commitment to the settlement of Mars by filing a martian settlement plan. People who file such plans can then ask their national governments to provide funding for the construction of martian settlements.
Scott

Thanks, Scott, I hadn't read that part of the Moon Treaty (or not recently). Strictly speaking, that treaty isn't in effect since no spacefaring nations ratified it, but parts of it could be a model.

In my very amateur opinion, I would imagine that even a respected body like the Mars Society would be looked down upon or ignored if it attempted to create an international regime of this sort on its own. This needs the involvement and consultation of involved parties - industry and government, most likely - NASA, ESA, RosCosmos, JAXA, ISRO, the Chinese equivalent, SpaceX, scholarly expert voices too (maybe people like Charles S Cockell and people at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science who have written articles on these things.)

If this fills the reader with dismay, well I understand. The process would likely get bogged down & over-complex. But the people most likely to invest effort and money into reaching & settling Mars are the ones we should be talking to. Taking a strong enough lead, investing in a strong media presentation, being 100% prepared, and convincing key figures ahead of time would be keys to success.

Comments? Has this all been thrashed through before somewhere else on the forum?

Scott Beach · 2022-07-13 11:54:13

Writing a martian settlement plan should be an easy thing to do. So I have written a sample settlement plan that you can use as a model for your plan. To begin writing your settlement plan, choose a name for the settlement; for example "Redlands City". Next, put "Redlands City Settlement Plan" into the sample plan, as shown below.

To the
Secretary of State,
Government of Mars
We respectfully request that you review the following "Redlands City Settlement Plan" and that you file the plan in the office of the Mars Secretariat, where the plan, after being filed, will be open to public inspection.
Redlands City Settlement Plan
We, the undersigned, declare (1) that we are planning to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars.
(2) that the initial point of the settlement's land survey system shall be located at 3.6 degrees North latitude and 18 degrees East longitude.
(3) that the boundary of the settlement shall be a square and centered on the initial point, and that the length of each side of the square shall be 10,000 meters (32,808.4 feet; 6.21 miles).
(4) that we will adopt a settlement constitution and that the settlement's constitution shall include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universa … man-rights
[signatures of the planners]

Next, go to https://trek.nasa.gov/mars/ and find the perfect place to build your settlement. When you find that place, write down the latitude and longitude of the place. Next, put that information into paragraph "(2)" of your settlement plan. After you emigrate to Mars, you can put a metal survey monument into the ground to mark the "initial point" of the "Redlands City Survey System". Using the initial point and modern surveying tools, you will be able to find and mark the four corners of your settlement's boundary.

The final steps to finishing your settlement plan are (1) having the plan signed by three or more people and (2) sending the signed plan to the Secretary of State of the Government of Mars.

Scott Beach · 2022-07-18 14:56:10

JohnX:

The following revised draft includes an "Article VII" that authorizes a settlement to amend its settlement plan. Under article VII, an amendment may increase the total area of a settlement by up to 50 percent. This amendment will allow a settlement to expand its boundary to place rocket arrival and departure facilities, and rocket fuel production and storage facilities, 5 to 10 miles away from its original settlement area.

[Revised DRAFT of July 18, 2022] Agreement to Establish an International Regime Named Government of Mars

Article I. The parties to this Agreement hereby establish an international regime named Government of Mars. As used in this Agreement, regime means "a system or planned way of doing things".

Article II. This international regime shall support the orderly establishment of permanent human settlements on Mars.

Article III. A martian settlement plan may be authored and signed by three or more people. A martian settlement plan shall specify the latitude and longitude of an initial point and shall also specify the location of the settlement's boundary in relation to the initial point. The settlement's boundary may enclose up to 100,000,000 square meters (38.61 square miles).

Article IV. The Martian Settlement Plan Depository is hereby established. All of the settlement plans in the Depository shall be publicly available via the Internet.

Article V. The Secretary of State of the Government of Mars shall maintain the Martian Settlement Plan Depository. The Secretary of State may establish a central office and may also establish any number of branch offices. The offices of the Secretary of State shall be known as the Mars Secretariat. Branch offices shall be staffed by deputies and assistants who are selected by and removed by the Secretary of State.

Article VI. A martian settlement plan may be submitted to the Secretary of State. If a settlement plan clearly and completely specifies the boundary of the proposed settlement then that plan may be added to the Depository. However, if a plan specifies a boundary that conflicts with the boundary in a perviously filed settlement plan then the conflicting plan shall not be added to the Depository.

Article VII. After a settlement plan is filed in the Martian Settlement Plan Depository, the Secretary of State may allow the authors of the plan to amend the settlement's boundary description. An amendment may increase the total area of the settlement by up to fifty percent. The additional area may include places where rocket fuel is manufactured and stored, and places where rockets may arrive and depart, and places where ore bodies can be economically mined. An amendment approved by the Secretary of State shall be attached to the settlement plan.

Article VIII. When five or more settlements have been established in accordance with this Agreement and those settlements have a combined population of at least 1,618 people, three or more of those settlements may call a Constitutional Convention. The Convention my adopt a Constitution that transforms this international regime into a government that exercises dominion over Mars or over specified portions of Mars.

Goals of the International Regime:
No claim jumping; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_claim#Claim_jumping
No land grabbing; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_grabbing
No border wars; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_conflicts

kbd512 · 2022-07-18 16:42:45

Scott,

Why not require a combined population of 1,776 people to call a Constitutional Convention?

Scott Beach · 2022-07-18 17:54:00

kbd512 wrote:

Scott, Why not 1,776?

Because my all-time most favorite number is the spectacular one-and-only Phi (1.618033...)!

But you can vote to amend the Agreement... if it pleases you to do so.

kbd512 · 2022-07-18 20:12:20

Scott,

I guess that makes about as much sense as any other arbitrary figure, so no need to change it.

Scott Beach · 2022-07-25 20:28:59

kbd512 wrote:

Scott, I guess that makes about as much sense as any other arbitrary figure, so no need to change it.

According to Wikipedia, Biosphere 2 has a floor area of "3.14 acres".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

Could that acreage be an allusion to "Pi"?

Na. The Biospherians would never try to hide their favorite number in an architectural plan.

It's just a coincidence.

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#1 2022-07-10 17:15:49

The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#2 2022-07-10 18:49:07

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#3 2022-07-11 11:40:36

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#4 2022-07-11 20:11:32

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#5 2022-07-13 11:54:13

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#6 2022-07-18 14:56:10

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#7 2022-07-18 16:42:45

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#8 2022-07-18 17:54:00

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#9 2022-07-18 20:12:20

Re: The Mars Secretariat and Calling a Constitutional Convention on Mars

#10 2022-07-25 20:28:59

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