MARINA DEL REY, CA -- With a manned mission to Mars a serious possibility, the government should step aside and leave the red planet for private exploitation, said a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.
     "Politicians are asking if we should go to Mars. That's the wrong question," said Ron Pisaturo. "The right questions are: should I go to Mars and should I invest in or work for the exploration and settlement of Mars? These are questions each individual, not government or 'society,' must ask and answer for himself."
     Pisaturo said that the government's only role in Mars exploration should be to recognize and protect the explorer's property rights.
     "The government's protection of rights should now be extended to space," said Pisaturo. "The U.S. government must recognize that private individuals who explore extraterrestrial land -- the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and other heavenly bodies -- endow that land with value where there had been none, and those individuals have a moral right to claim and use that land as their private property. They have the right to decide what to do with Mars, just as you have the right to use, sell, or develop your home or property."
     Pisaturo added that a private Mars mission would cost taxpayers nothing. Only those who expected to profit from the mission would invest in it -- failure or success would be theirs alone.
     "Is it worth going to Mars?" Pisaturo asked rhetorically. "Let each individual decide for himself. The government's only role should be to protect property rights, not finance the mission. Recognition of that role is the breakthrough needed by the heroic pioneers who would say, 'I should go to Mars.'"