Virtual Reality and the Afterlives of Property on Mars

• In Event: Ghosts and Media Futures: Sovereignty, Memory, and Afterlives of Property

Abstract

This paper explores the obscured connections between recent attempts to legally create property regimes in the realm of virtual reality (VR), on the one hand, and the seemingly disconnected scientific efforts to democratize knowledge about outer space (especially Mars) through VR, on the other. While the goals of extending knowledge of outer space and creating new “frontiers” of knowledge through VR may seem disconnected, they are entwined in the question of what modes of life, relations, and property will be extended into realms not yet affected by the ravages of climate and political catastrophes on Earth. As we argue in this paper, VR prefigures the colonization of outer space as a dress rehearsal for exploring Mars in VR and frames this future colonization as a scientific advancement rather than as an extension of relations of exploitation of land and resources championed by tech billionaires like Elon Musk.

Ownership in VR raises important questions about the nature of property. Given that unlike tangible assets, virtual property depends on software infrastructure, as well as the ways that intellectual property rights, platform monopolies, and disputes over digital asset management have complicated the concept of ownership, some legal scholars have concluded that one can’t really own anything in the virtual world in spite of some recent booms in virtual real estate. At the same time, the investment in creating property in places where humans can’t physically live showcases how regimes of property and their legal infrastructures precede the development of sociality in technologically enabled zones of human presence, like VR and outer space itself.

Meanwhile, VR has recently been touted as a critical tool for the democratization of knowledge, especially in the realm of outer space exploration. Seemingly disconnected from capitalist impetus for accumulation, VR has been framed as revolutionizing education by creating immersive, interactive learning environments that make knowledge more accessible. For instance, VR has enabled users to explore the solar system, study rocks, walk on Mars, or visit the International Space Station—all without leaving their classrooms.

But the goals are more than educational - they are part of a broader network of VR initiatives accelerating the possibility of human colonization of Mars. According to the Mars Society, a non-profit invested since the 1990s in accelerating sending humans to Mars, they are “building a new open-source Virtual Reality platform — we call it “MarsVR” — that can be used for serious research towards the goal of sending humans to Mars.” Akin to their desert space stations, NASA is also developing a VR platform to prepare the public and astronauts for future Mars missions, including living on space colonies or studying the potential for life on Mars.

Ultimately, this paper argues that VR functions as both a testing ground and a justification for extending capitalist and legal regimes into outer space. By framing Mars exploration as a neutral scientific endeavor, these efforts mask the reproduction of existing power dynamics, ensuring that new frontiers remain governed by the same structures of ownership and exclusion that define Earthly life.

Authors

• Neda Atanasoski, University of Maryland-College Park

• Felicity Amaya Amaya Schaeffer, University of California-Santa Cruz