Elon Musk Is Headed for Mars: Will Space Real Estate Be a Good Investment?

Elon Musk has long dreamed of bringing humans to Mars and leaving them there (he says he will build a habitat) and has hinted at these plans for years. A recent tweet by Musk referred again to his Mars plan, sparking another flood of people interested in the red planet. Can we or can we not? When should we pack our suitcases for an otherworldly dwelling?

According to the man himself, SpaceX should be able to get a crew to Mars in 2026. And that’s the first step, isn’t it? Although NASA’s plans for Mars are less solid, the space agency is increasingly looking for outside partners to accelerate the development of space technology. So innovations by these private companies could easily change the schedules in unpredictable ways and create opportunities for all types of people, including real estate investors.

Image source: Getty Images.

Who currently owns storage space?

It is not enough just to wish it to be so. We have to have the papers to prove we own our own little Mars cabanas; otherwise it’s just chaos. So does Elon own Mars … or what’s going on?

A company called the Lunar Embassy claims to be the legal owner of everything in the solar system. In the early 1980s, Dennis Hope applied for ownership of all moons and planets (except Earth) in our solar system. Citing the 1967 International Space Treaty and the Homestead Act of 1862, he persuaded the San Francisco Records Bureau to formally document his claim.

He wrote several formal letters without a reply to the United Nations declaring his intention to divide up and sell this property. In 2004 he formed some sort of government body, the Galactic Government, and ratified all of the documents required by the United States government to give the Galactic Government a formal constitution, congress, currency, and patent office.

The Lunar Embassy, ​​with the knowledge of NASA and the United Nations, has been selling pieces of the moon and other celestial bodies for nearly 40 years, and over six million people have purchased claims in space. Until recently, this ownership problem wasn’t really a problem as nobody went to planets or moons anyway.

But with the new commercial incentives to go into space, we need to find this out quickly, as NASA desperately has plans to build habitable bases on the Moon and Mars. Although the plans for Mars are less solid, construction of basic habitats on the moon could happen as early as 2030, according to NASA’s own estimates.

Space real estate for the brave and savvy investor

First, let me say that there are no guarantees that you will actually be able to access your space real estate in your life. So realize that investing in space is a very long game. If you want to take the risk and buy real estate from the Lunar Embassy, ​​you can register the random parcels you think could hit anytime, provided their ownership stake holds up while people actually get to Mars and the moon .

Personally, I don’t think their stakeholders will end up having legitimate claims based on the method by which they claim all of this land. The Homestead Act of 1862 required that an owner who claimed a homestead actually use the land within five years. It was also repealed in 1976.

On the other hand, if Elon Musk takes humanity to Mars, he or someone in his organization will find a way to make a ton of money from it. Condos in a Martian habitat feel like something that suits their style and is easy to work with for a potential buyer. There is literally no one on the planet to contest ownership.

If you’re interested in buying space real estate, just wait until one of the dozen or so companies goes on their way to commercialize space to plan their lunar or Mars developments, and then shop as soon as an offer appears. Another option would be to invest in the companies that go into space, some of which are publicly traded.

Should You Buy Real Estate In Space?

That is the real question. For several reasons, I firmly believe that investing in space is a far more solid investment than investing in the Metaverse.

First, space is cool. Nobody denies that.

Second, space is full of natural resources like gold and other useful and rare metals and minerals.

Third, many commercial businesses are currently looking pretty closely at space, and their next logical step from a floating business park is a surface paved business park. After all, you need to have a place from which you can control all of the mining and everything else that is going to happen.

Space real estate will definitely be more office and industrial real estate than residential real estate, at least for now, but both types of property have long, solid track records here on earth. We tend to export what we understand and there has to be a way to make money before a sizeable population can show up.

I don’t know if we’ll be living on other planets, but I know NASA is currently working with a lot of capitalists. This is often a springboard for innovation due to the sheer amount of capital suddenly freed up for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in such situations, as well as the spark of the real estate boom as heavy industry sets in.