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New Private Foundation To Send Humans To Mars
A MARSNEWS.COM EXCLUSIVE
April 1 (Seattle) - In a stunning announcement made today, many of the world's leading financial barons will fund a new program of human Mars exploration and will launch a piloted mission by 2010. The newly formed "Foundation of Outerspace Launch Services" will provide a starting fund of US$100 billion to finance the development and operations of future Mars missions. The goal of the effort is to send the first human explorer to the surface of Mars.
And, in what will turn out to be a controversial challenge to the existing legal framework, the Foundation plans to file a claim of ownership for the entire planet of Mars, once their explorers are on the Red Planet.
"We hope to see a new branch of human civilization begin on Mars by the end of this decade," the Foundation's chairman Bill Gates announced today, "we forsee that this initial investment of $100 billion dollars will eventually grow into an entire planet's worth of revenue. Of course, the Foundation will use this for our benefit and for the benefit of mankind."
The Foundation will be chaired by Gates and also includes most of the leading international finance luminaries such as Warren Buffett, George Soros, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, and Donald Trump. The group has reportedly tapped The Mars Society to plan out the exact details of a Mars mission and will utilize The Mars Direct Plan popularized by the Society's President Dr. Robert Zubrin.
"We decided to announce the Foundation now to provide hope to the world in light of recent events", Gates remarked, apparently referring to the war in Iraq. "We were also inspired by NASA's recent decisions to fund nuclear propulsion, which we hope to utilize." Gates was referring to Project Prometheus, NASA's new program for research into nuclear power and propulsion. NASA hopes to launch an orbiter mission to Jupiter's moons using the technology by 2008. It's unclear whether today's announcement will impact those plans.
Gates told MarsNews.com that the Foundation has been in the planning stages for approximately two years. Learning of the limitations of current legal agreements, as well as a hidden passion for space exploration shared by the founders, they all agreed to do something spectacular for this April 1st.
The Foundation's plans to claim Mars will undoubtedly be met by legal challenges, however they can make a case for their efforts. Current international law prohibits a nation from claiming Mars or any other "celestial body", yet there is no limitation for private groups and individuals to make claims.
MarsNews.com will report further details on this stunning announcement as they develop...
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Gotcha... Happy April Fools Day!
While Bill Gates and other tycoons have been approached by the Mars Society to fund private missions, at this time they are not interested in Mars. Their loss! The legal loopholes regarding outer space are real, however. Private individuals & corporations could claim parts of outer space & exploit them for profit (for example, asteroid mining.) We hope you enjoyed our little prank and that it got you thinking about the possibilities of private exploration of Mars, something which we believe can occur in the future...
Posted by jburk at April 1, 2003 12:00 PM
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