SpaceX’s Starlink broadband division aims to offer internet service globally by 2022. Starlink will help the company fund its goal to build a fleet of at least one thousand Starships to colonize Mars before the year 2050. The President of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell shared that another reason why SpaceX is creating the Starlink network is to maintain communication with future Mars settlers. "Once we take people to Mars, they are going to need a capability to communicate," she told TIME reporters last year, "In fact, I think it will be even more critical to have a constellation like Starlink around Mars. And then, of course, you need to connect the two planets as well."

SpaceX is already providing Starlink broadband service in some countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, and is rapidly expanding coverage to more regions. Customers order the service and equipment via Starlink.com. Upon ordering the service, SpaceX provides 'A Pre-Order Agreement' which also contains Starlink's 'Terms of Service.' A section reveals SpaceX plans to provide internet aboard the Starship spacecraft and on the Red Planet. This was mentioned in a section titled "Governing Law", the terms read: "For Services provided to, on, or in orbit around the planet Earth or the Moon, these Terms and any disputes between us arising out of or related to these Terms, including disputes regarding arbitrability (“Disputes”) will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California in the United States," the company states, "For Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonization spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement," SpaceX wrote. Read more about Starlink in the article linked below. 

Yes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2021

The founder of SpaceX Elon Musk said Mars will be governed with a "Direct democracy. Short, comprehensible laws voted on directly by the people," he wrote via Twitter in August last year. During the 2020 Mars Society Convention he shared that a versiom of the Starlink network could be developed to beam internet to the Martian surface. "...You just need a big laser coming from Earth," he said, "Probably want it to be in orbit so it doesn't get atmospheric diffraction or attenuation. You want to go from a big laser from Earth orbit to Mars orbit and then you're going to need some relay stations for when Mars is on the other side of the Sun. So, you can't just shoot a laser through the sun," Musk explained. 

Direct democracy. Short, comprehensible laws voted on directly by the people.
Snake Jazz.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2020

 Featured Image Source: SpaceX