I write to you on behalf of the Mars Land Authority (MLA), a privately constituted Territorial Registry established in 2026 for the purpose of organizing, recording, and administering private territorial claims on the planet Mars, and for building a civilian community of registered citizens who represent a founding layer of multi-planetary human civilization.

This letter serves as formal notice of the Authority's existence, its legal framework, its stated intentions, and its sincere desire to engage constructively with the international community — including the United Nations, UNOOSA, and COPUOS — in the formation of governance frameworks for Mars before humanity's physical presence on the planet makes such frameworks urgently necessary.

I. Background and Legal Context

The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1967) — the Outer Space Treaty — prohibits national appropriation of celestial bodies by states. The Mars Land Authority operates in full recognition of this principle. We do not claim sovereignty on behalf of any nation-state, and we do not challenge the Outer Space Treaty's prohibition on national claims.

However, the international community must acknowledge a significant legal gap: the Outer Space Treaty does not definitively address the rights of private individuals and organizations regarding territorial registration and resource claims on celestial bodies. This gap has been partially addressed at the national level — most notably by the United States Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (2015), Luxembourg's Space Law (2017), and subsequent legislation in the UAE (2019) and Japan (2021) — all of which recognize private ownership of extracted space resources. The logical extension of these national frameworks to territorial registration represents the next frontier of space law.

The Moon Agreement (1979), which would have established celestial bodies as the "common heritage of mankind" subject to international governance, was not ratified by any major spacefaring nation. As such, no comprehensive international legal framework governs private territorial activity on Mars. The Mars Land Authority exists, in part, to advocate for the creation of such a framework before the absence of law creates conflict.

II. The Mars Land Authority's Position and Intentions

The Mars Land Authority hereby formally declares the following positions to the international community:

1. Non-Sovereign Private Registry: The MLA operates as a private territorial registry. We are not claiming, asserting, or advocating for national sovereignty over any part of Mars. Our registry records private claims and organizes a civilian community in the spirit of civil society participation in space governance.
2. Good Faith Legal Compliance: All MLA activities are conducted in good faith compliance with existing international space law as interpreted to apply to private entities. We acknowledge legal ambiguity and seek its resolution through dialogue, not unilateral action.
3. Advocacy for an International Mars Land Registry: The MLA formally advocates for the creation, under COPUOS oversight, of an international framework for private territorial registration on Mars — analogous to how international maritime law evolved to accommodate private actors while preserving the principle of freedom of the seas.
4. Long-Term Physical Presence: The MLA is actively building a Mars Infrastructure Fund with the stated intention of contracting commercial space service providers to establish physical markers and, ultimately, infrastructure on registered territories. We will pursue all such activities in coordination with applicable national space authorities.
5. Citizen Governance Framework: The MLA has established a civilian citizenship system including the Astral Demographic Identification Marker (ADIM), a unique identifier for each registered Mars citizen. This system is designed to eventually interface with formal Mars governance structures.

III. Specific Requests to the International Community

The Mars Land Authority respectfully makes the following requests to the UN, UNOOSA, COPUOS, and all member states:

1. Recognition and Acknowledgment: Acknowledge receipt of this notice and recognize the Mars Land Authority as a legitimate stakeholder in international discussions about Mars governance.
2. COPUOS Observer Status: Grant the Mars Land Authority Observer Status at the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, enabling participation in discussions about the future legal framework for Mars.
3. Working Group on Private Mars Claims: Establish a COPUOS working group specifically tasked with developing a draft international framework for private territorial registries on celestial bodies, with meaningful participation from private sector entities including the MLA.
4. Interim Recognition of Private Registries: Pending a formal framework, provide interim recognition that private territorial registries operating in good faith represent legitimate civil society interests and will be considered in any future governance architecture.
5. Update to the Outer Space Treaty: Initiate a formal process to address the legal vacuum created by the OST's silence on private entities, ensuring clarity and stability for all actors — governmental and private — as Mars colonization approaches.

IV. The Urgency of This Matter

SpaceX has publicly declared its intention to land uncrewed spacecraft on Mars as early as 2027 and humans as early as 2029. NASA continues its Mars exploration program. China, the UAE, and other nations have announced Mars ambitions. The window for establishing orderly governance frameworks before physical presence creates facts on the ground is narrowing rapidly.

The history of terrestrial colonization offers a cautionary lesson: when governance frameworks are absent at the moment of first settlement, the resulting legal conflicts — and the human suffering they cause — can last centuries. The international community has the opportunity to act differently with Mars. The Mars Land Authority urges you to seize that opportunity.

We stand ready to participate constructively in all relevant international fora, to share our methodology and registry framework for peer review, and to subordinate our private registry to any legitimately constituted international framework that emerges from this process.

V. Conclusion

The first generation of Martian citizens is alive today, walking the surface of Earth, looking up at a red star in the night sky and daring to imagine it as home. The Mars Land Authority exists to honor that vision — to hold a place for them, and for the civilization they will build, before the first rocket lands and the age of treaties ends and the age of facts begins.

We ask only that the international community engage with us in the same spirit: not as an adversary to be dismissed, but as a pioneer to be guided — one among many who will shape the legal, cultural, and civic foundations of humanity's first multi-planetary home.