Selling Mars

A group of NASA engineers have worked out a plan to fly a manned mission to Mars, and establish a colony there, using private funding. The total cost of the project would be $150 billion.

The plan would be to make a profit, not simply fund the project. The authors of the plan say they would fund the project by selling various rights, for example-- advertising on the sides of launchers, naming rights to the ships, television and film rights, book and other publishing rights. etc. The project would also own patents and rights to technology developed through the effort.

It's not clear all of that would work out. News organizations, for example, would no doubt claim the right to cover such an historic program without having to pay for it, which would presumably diminish the value of any television rights. Still, it's an interesting approach to opening the Solar System.