Society’s 2016 Convention. Following up on the principles I outlined in my talk from last year on governing future Martian colonies, this year I will be outlining the complexity of funding public works projects on Mars. Here’s my abstract, for the technically inclined:
A mission to Mars, manned or unmanned, requires substantial infrastructure in place to accomplish. This infrastructure is composed of communications, flight, and other components necessary to support a mission. A permanent outpost on Mars, or the Moon, also requires infrastructure for communications, water, power, and other things we consider public utilities on Earth. Financing such infrastructure is complicated, and additional costs and challenges mount in hostile environments. This talk will explore the economic models used for financing infrastructure development and how those models would apply on Mars.
The convention will be September 22-25 at Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC.