Having covered the state of Earth's economy yesterday, we have a unique opportunity to extend our planetary scale analysis to Mars, whose economy is starting to register signs of life after what many scientists believe is a 600 million year recession.
There is, after all, now signs of activity on the Martian surface. The following footage of some of that activity was recorded on 18 February 2021:
With the arrival of NASA's Perseverance rover, we estimate Mars' GDP to now be greater than $0, which is where Mars' economy had been stuck since the Mars Opportunity rover ceased operation in 2019, and which has been Mars' average GDP for millennia.
Although the Perseverance mission itself cost more than $2.4 billion, which does not include an additional $300 million for landing and operating a rover on the surface of Mars. Nearly all of these costs are properly counted toward Earth's GDP however, where nearly all of the mission's activity has occurred to date.
With an active mission on its surface, Mars' GDP is no longer at $0, but is now greater than $0.
Economic development plans are in the works for Mars, which may become the first planetary economy to run entirely on cryptocurrency.
The Perseverance rover will collect samples that will someday be exported to Earth, making the mission the one of the first to begin developing interplanetary trade within the solar system.
Update 25 February 2021: A panorama of Perseverance's view from the Jezero Crater (HT: Michael Wade)
How much do you suppose Mars' first produced exports will be worth?