> You don't think a colony would have scientists?

Not a million of them. And if its purpose was scientific it wouldn't have to be "self-sufficient". Science is not Musk's goal. He wants to put people there for the sake of it.

But the government wouldn't need to pay to send a million of them. Just enough to send the people they want to send, along with associated equipment, plus the costs of feeding and housing them.

Remember, we're only talking about the portion of the mission funded by tax dollars here. Not all of the funding is going to come from that source.

A self-sufficient society will rapidly need universities, and I'd expect them to initially be fairly heavy on things like geology majors given the location.

" And if its purpose was scientific it wouldn't have to be 'self-sufficient'."

It would if the experiment is to test whether or not a self-sufficient human settlement beyond Earth is possible.

There's always scientific value in everything we do. It's just a matter of cashing in on that value.