SpaceX: No Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities

It has been revealed that in Starlink's terms of service SpaceX requires beta testers to recognize Mars as a "free planet". Under the section "Governing Law" the parties agree that:

"For Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonization spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement."

Interestingly the terms for the Moon are different:

"For Services provided to, on, or in orbit around the planet Earth or the Moon, these Terms and any disputes between us arising out of or related to these Terms, including disputes regarding arbitrability will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California in the United States."

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation currently being deployed by SpaceX and it will provide high-speed low-latency internet anywhere on the world (and beyond). The constellation will ultimately consist of thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), working in combination with ground transceivers.

As far as we know it is the first time any entity with real potential to send humans to Mars (defined by us as governments and private corporations with the independent human spaceflight capability, which are only four: Russia (since 1961), US (since 1962), China (since 2003) and SpaceX (since 2020)) has declared that Mars should be governed under the principles of self-government.

It remains to be seen if SpaceX will be in power do define that (US government can easily stop SpaceX operations until the company abides to the US and international law) and most likely it's just a way for Elon Musk to draw attention to the upcoming Starlink public release, but it would be cool to see Mars as an independent planet even before the timeframe we have speculated: internal self-governance in 2080s and complete independence in the 22nd century.

*Cover poster "Free Mars" by Rhys Cooper for Total Recall (1990) movie.

Total Recall (1990) concept art by Ron Cobb

Australian artist Ron Cobb has done concept art for many famous sci-fi movies, as Star Wars, Alien, Back to the Future and countless other. One of the movies he has worked on is a movie known to all Mars fans - Total Recall (1990), stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside and directed by Paul Verhoeven. Here are some historic concept art images created by Ron Cobb for the famous movie:

Maglev train connecting Martian colonies

Mars colony exterior

Mars shuttle

Incredible miniatures for Total Recall (1990) Martian landscapes

One of the best movies set on Mars ever made - Total Recall (1990), stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone and directed by Paul Verhoeven (known also for Starship Troopers, RoboCop, Basic Instinct and other movies), was the last major movie to heavily utilize miniature effects before computer graphics took that job. Vast and incredibly detailed miniature Martian landscapes were built for the movie. Unfortunately most of the miniatures were destroyed after the filming was done. Here are some rare photos from the production process of the miniature Martian landscapes before their destruction.

Mars colony:

⇩ in movie ⇩

The spaceport:

HD images from Total Recall (1990) movie

By many the Total Recall of 1990, stared by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone and directed by Paul Verhoeven (known also for Starship Troopers, RoboCop, Basic Instinct and other movies), is being considered the best Mars movie ever, at least till The Martian will hit cinema screens. Here are some of the best HD images from Total Recall focusing on the Martian landscapes and human colony depicted in the movie (open link in new tab to view in full resolution).

Mars game review - Chaser

Welcome to Mars...

As there are quite a lot Chaser game reviews (of which the review by GameSpot seems to be the most comprehensive), in this review I will give a much closer focus on my general interest in this game - Mars and the story of the game. Unfortunately there are not so many video games set on Mars, so despite quite a few minuses Chaser is still one of the best. Even considering that only less than a half of the game actually takes place on Mars (the first part of the game is about getting to it).

In general Chaser is a classic first-person shooter (FPS) game where the player will be shooting various enemies a lot and the story is mostly told by cutscenes in between. Game is quite long and difficult (mitigated by easy quick-save-load system) not to run through too fast.

Story

The game takes place in late 21st century where there seems to be failed states and various criminal organizations on Earth (at least in those locations in US and Siberia where the main character wanders around) and on Mars there is a well developed colony controlled by authoritarian corporation called Mars Corp (equipped with the latest military technologies).

The protagonist (main character of the game) is John Chaser who awakens on board the space station H.M.S. Majestic in Earths orbit. He doesn't remember anything about himself. In meantime the space station is being attacked by unknown troops and the main target seems to be Chaser who fights his way through the crumbling station. He gets to escape pod and crushes into some criminal ghetto in Montak City (US). The player's goal is to find out who Chaser really is and why he is being hunted.

In his adventure Chaser works for mafia in a gang-war thorn Montak City where there happens to be people willing to help him (authorities treat him as dangerous terrorist who has blown up the H.M.S. Majestic), then helps some Caucasian criminals in US and Siberia, fighting his way through both American and Russian military bases. Eventually the Caucasians turn against him and Chaser has to help some Russian guy to escape from Gulag prison to get into partly abandoned spaceport in Siberia. Not without difficulties :) he gets into a ship to Mars where his real troubles only start. After failed attempt to flee from Mars spaceport Chaser is imprisoned, but a cell mate, who happens to know him, helps to escape. Then he does several hi-priority tasks for Mars Resistance, which fights against the oppressive regime of Mars Corp, in the end blowing up the director of the corporation - Samuel Longwood.

Victory seems to be in the grasp and they fly to the secret headquarters of the Resistance. Suddenly there are lots of Mars Corp soldiers killing Chasers comrades. He fights his way through endless levels of the now occupied Resistance underground base only to fall into the hands of never killed Longwood and his army, who has used Chaser as a bait to get to the leader of the Resistance. Turns out that Chaser in truth is a head of Longwood's security - Stone - who has planed all this operation with his master and erased his own memory to become Chaser and infiltrate the Resistance.

Never trust your memories.

Something sounds familiar?... Yes, because the main line of the Chaser's story is very similar to the Total Recall (1990) - a Hollywood movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first part of the game on Earth is quite different from Total Recall's, also a lot of story details on Mars are modified and there are no Martian artifacts and mutated people in Chaser (aspects frankly I think were needless in Total Recall), but all in all Chaser is a video game totally inspired by the story of Total Recall. The ending is almost 1:1. And it's definitely a + for this game, because Total Recall is a great movie.