If a manned mission to Mars happens would a space company or a govenment space program have to get

[Cloakedwand72]

If a manned mission to Mars and a return to the Moon happens would a space company or a government space program have to get United nations approval or local government approval?Yes i know space company's and government space agency's have to test all there manned rated systems be for sending astronauts.And would lets say Mars one would also have to have any government approval for a space colony before sending humans to Mars to build a colony?

[Dispatcher]

I don't know what the diplomatic protocols are, but I'm pretty sure its the same situation as it is for our Moon: any nation may orbit or land on the Moon and also return from it. Also, private industry historically has been subcontracted by space agencies for that purpose. In the case of Apollo missions, that of course was NASA.

As to the question of a company landing on Mars, I'm guessing that the company's "host" nation would need to approve such flights for national security reasons.

While it might be nice to let the UN know of its intentions, I don't think any nation or company needs UN approval for anything. You see, its the "United Nations", which means that each nation is a sovereign state. It is not a world government, regardless of what one's views and attitudes on that topic might be.

[ChrisSpace]

Anyone can land on a planet or moon, but colonizing is a bit trickier...

[Spacetraindriver]

Meh. As long as our super powers don't kill each other out for bragging rights, that's all I care about.

[GeneralVeers]

No, and screw the United Nations. They're sissies.

[Spaceception]

On 11/10/2015, 1:41:09, WedgeAntilles said:

No, and screw the United Nations. They're sissies.

Yup!! Completely agree!!

[SkyRender]

The answer is disturbingly human: there is absolutely nothing preventing anyone from landing on (or colonizing) the moon or Mars without anyone's consent, provided they have the resources available to them.  Practically speaking, of course, you can be sure there would be quite a lot of controversy that would arise from such an action, and likely someone would try to shut the effort down before it could get off the ground (literally), but that doesn't mean they'd succeed in doing so.  With enough security-through-obscurity, pretty much anything can be done without any "official" consent, and once it's done, you can't exactly undo it when it comes to missions to space.

[Cloakedwand72]

On November 11, 2015 at 4:41:09 AM, WedgeAntilles said:

No, and screw the United Nations. They're sissies.

Same here.

[cantab]

Getting rather political here.

Anyway, the UN couldn't and wouldn't stop any nation landing a person on Mars.

As far as private companies go, clearly they would need the approval of at least one government in order to be able to construct and launch their rocket, and also the non-hostility of other powerful governments and organisations. Plenty of governments and organisations have the resources to stop you building your Mars rocket, by any means up to and including putting a bullet in your skull and a bomb in your rocket factory.

[Newt]

Well, in some cases there would be treaties that would be problematic, preventing the claiming of territory in 'Outer Space'. But that would not be a matter that the UN would have to deal with, simply the signers of the treaty (and those countries that did not sign would be presumably exempt, but the odds that they would succeed are vanishingly small). For companies, any action they would take would probably be supported by another government, which would complicate claiming territory.

 

That does not mean that you could not colonize. But the rules that govern it are probably far more messy. Unless the UN agrees that the UN is in charge, the UN is not.

[GeneralVeers]

On 12/15/2015, 5:16:51, cantab said:

Getting rather political here.

Necessary, seeing as how the thread title contains the word "government" in it.

 

On 12/15/2015, 5:16:51, cantab said:

Anyway, the UN couldn't and wouldn't stop any nation landing a person on Mars.

Agree here.

 

On 12/15/2015, 5:16:51, cantab said:

As far as private companies go, clearly they would need the approval of at least one government in order to be able to construct and launch their rocket, and also the non-hostility of other powerful governments and organisations.

SpaceX. Their launch plan includes a sea-going landing barge for recovering the first stage. Not a huge engineering leap to perform the actual launch in international waters. Therefore, approval of at least one government not needed.

As to the "non-hostility" part? Well, nobody can do anything about it if they don't know about it, and if the entire collective planet can lose a Boeing 777 in the oceans of the South China Sea, it's pretty clear a launch pad on a remote island, or a barge with a rocket on it, would be able to stay off the grid long enough to get the bird in the air.

[cantab]

Launch from international waters, sure. Build a spacecraft capable of a Mars trip in international waters, not so much. Or build it in the USA but somehow make sure everyone involved keeps it a total secret? That's as implausible as the claims the Moon landings were faked.