Mars is located conveniently between the Earth and the asteroid belt and people probably tolerate low gravity (0,3 G) better than zero gravity, at least for longer periods of time.
As a springboard towards the Outer Solar System, Mars makes a lot of sense. It is a lot more Earth-y than anything beyond, with the possible exception of Europa and Titan. So our contemporary technologies need less adjustment to work there.
Re:Mars sucks
by HenryBemis on Friday April 23, 2021 @03:19AM
(#26911979)
I see Mars as our "first convenient UAT". If we can make this work (get people to create a settlement and live there for 1-2-5-10 years), then we can identify and study the requirements and impact, and probably repeat the process to the next planet further out.
First you get to feel comfortable with lifting 20kg before you move to 30kg, 50kg, etc. improve your wrist angles, how you spread your toes on the groun, etc. Mars is our 20kg. We take it for a spin, iron out the wrinkles, repeat it perfectly, then move to the next target.
Meanwhile we 'studied' Mars for 'so long' that we know there are very few things that can surprise/wipe the effort with e.g. a single volcanic erruption/earthquake/mega-storm.
Although I am not sure if it will be practical to move iron from that place to the Earth, without some significant break through in space travel, probably not.