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Stages of a Multiplanetary Economy, Part 1/3: Nascency
The first Martian economy won’t run on money, it’s going to run on mass.
In the beginning, there will be no market, currency, or anything to purchase. There will only be what arrives.
Earth won’t send money, it’l send “things”. The money stays on Earth paying for building, launching and shipping. What actually reaches Mars will be habitats, tools, machines, food, medicine, and spare parts.
So on Mars, value will be measured in mass and usefulness. The real exchange rate will be cost per kilogram, every gram shipped competing with every other gram, a spare pump might be worth more than a crate of gold.
The most valuable cargo will reduce future cargo, tools that build tools, 3D printers, and machines that pull water, oxygen, and fuel from local resources. For example, MOXIE was able to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere in small amounts, proving that it can be done.
The deposits will arrive in pulses, Earth and Mars line up efficiently roughly every 26 months, and the voyage takes roughly 6-9 months, so supplies land in giant batches every 2 plus years. Like a paycheck every 26 months, every bolt and calorie has to be budgeted until the next window.
Mistakes will cost time, not just money. Anything missing and there will be a 2 year wait or so until the next shipment, redundancy will be essential, spare parts and stock will act as insurance.
In this way the economy will have a sort of heartbeat, beating every 26 months.
The very first Martian export will not be physical, it will be information. Science and research, geology, climate, signs of past life. Data no lab on Earth can produce.
Solving survival in extreme environments will lead to tech that Earth wants, that’s how NASA programs have historically spun off products like water purification and better materials.
Not to mention, footage, documentaries, the human drama of daily Martian life. The first people on Mars may be the most watched people in history.
These exports will be limited only by the speed they can be beamed back home.
In no way is this a detailed seminar, just some food for thought:P