Right behind those colonizers will be the brands. Where man goes, capitalism is never far behind.

Does Mars have rights? Can it be owned? Who should own it? Does whoever gets there first own it?

Will brands have rights? If SpaceX arrives first, what rights does the brand have? How will it be positioned? What's bigger than a global brand, an interstellar brand?

As Adam Mann wrote in his recent New Yorker article, “Critics suggest that, in space, we risk repeating the mistakes of the colonial past, in which exploration was often a cover for the exploitation of native beings and environments.”

Right behind those colonizers will be the brands. Where man goes, capitalism is never far behind.