On October 21, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology that he foresees NASA will land astronauts on the moon by 2035. “We need to learn how to live and work in another world,” he told lawmakers. “The moon is the best place to prove those capabilities and technologies.”

The article that follows comprises the fourth instalment in “Our Martian Moment,” a multi-part Quillette series in which our authors discuss what kind of society humans should build on Mars if and when we succeed in colonizing the red planet. Our editors invite submissions to this series, which may be directed to [email protected].

What better time to reflect on how to run an earthling colony on Mars than the current moment, when things seem to be in a depressing state all over our home planet. Indeed, I am reminded of a Soviet joke from the late 1970s, in which an elderly Jew seeking to emigrate looks over the globe in the exit-visa office weighing various countries’ pluses and minuses. Finally, he asks, “Excuse me, but do you by any chance have another ball?” A terraformed Martian colony would provide us with that second-chance sphere. To adapt Ben Franklin: a new republic, if we can keep it.

Let’s stipulate that our Martian home away from home will be built on the principles of Enlightenment liberalism as the most conducive to human flourishing. How do we guard against a descent into either radical or reactionary debacle? Recruit colonists committed to Enlightenment-based liberal values? That doesn’t ensure such values will endure. And for what it’s worth, our colonists should ideally represent a mix of different values and viewpoints as long as—crucially—they agree to live in an open society and not impose their views on others by force. All ideas, including Enlightenment liberalism, need to be exposed to critique, challenge and competition, or they atrophy and stagnate.

Why We Should Settle Mars

Space exploration will bring us inventions that benefit humanity. And it will help us avoid war.

QuilletteRobert Zubrin

The specific political arrangements in our Martian colony will obviously depend on many things, including population size. But here are two ideas that can work, and a third that I believe is imperative.

Ensure that as few people as possible feel left out of collective decisions and leadership.

Much of our current populist turmoil stems from the fact that far too many people have felt disenfranchised and unrepresented by traditional political institutions and political elites. Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump on opposite sides of the Atlantic are prime examples. But, of course, populist victories simply turn the tables on incumbent elites rather than actually remedy the problem of disenfranchisement. It doesn’t change the fact that many people in society find themselves shut out of political power, and feel that major decisions about their lives are outside their control. It just transfers the power from one group to another.