MWK Talks: What is The Martian Trust?

I met Charles Polk last year on one of his visits to New Zealand. We went to Sprig & Fern, sat in the beautiful brickyard at the back of the pub and discussed Mars over a hoppy beer under a beautiful tree. As a funding member and board member of the Mars Society New Zealand I knew a person or two who were interested in Mars. “Oh dear, another Mars Organisation!”, everybody who heard me talking about it  said. Well, I think this one is different from anything I’ve heard before, from what I gathered, Charles Polk wishes to make the Republic of Mars.

The Martian Trust launched in 2017 in New Zealand, as a Charitable Trust. The irony is that The Mars Society New Zealand created the precedent with the Charitable Trusts Commision that was used as an example to register The Martian Trust.

So at Milky-Way.Kiwi we figured that the best idea possible would be to ask Charles himself about what’s he’s got in mind, why New Zealand, why another Mars organisation and a few other questions.

Here is the first question: what is The Martian Trust?

Placing humanity on Mars – staying, not just visiting – will be the work of generations. Governments won’t do this. A single corporation can’t. Space enthusiasts can. The Martian Trust is about facing facts, charting a new course with imagination, and realising that the hearts, minds, and purchasing power of space enthusiasts can place humanity on Mars.