I don't know why we are even discussing people on Mars, we can't even make a self-sustaining biodome on Earth, how are we suppose to do that on another planet? Atleast a moonbase idea is potentially close enough and low enough gravity that people could potentially leave, receive supplies and equipment, or even have more people sent to help within a realistic timespan. What does Mars bring you? Less sunlight, an abrasive and harsh environment, 1 year+ for emergency supplies, and likely zero ability to actually leave Mars again.
Anyone who is trying to sell a Mars base is either ignorant, a moron, a massive grifter, or all of the above.
Yet another reason that Mars colonisation is such a distant and stupid pipedream. I'm not saying humanity shouldn't strive to continue exploring, but if we can't live sustainably on the one habitable planet we already have, the idea of expanding to one that's objectively hostile as some sort of backup plan is pure delusion. Musk isn't a dreamer - he's a con man.
The notion that we need to achieve utopia here before moving forward is so toxic. If people in the past had thought that way, we'd still be trying to make the perfect village in Africa.
"Humanity" isn't a preschool classroom where we all hold hands and do one thing at a time like the teacher says. It's fine for some people to be working towards the future while others are trying to fix things in the present.
This seems like a response tediously intent on missing the point: if you genuinely want to build a sustainable settlement on Mars, you should start by proving out sustainable settlements in harsh environments on Earth -- you could build out sustainable settlements in the Antarctic, the depths of the Sahara, and under the ocean all with substantially less expense/risk than trying to build a sustainable settlement on Mars. You'd learn how to build better sustainable settlements by doing so and encounter some of the problems you'll encounter on Mars with less dire consequences. And you don't have to choose one or the other: you can parallel path it by continuing to improve rocketry while building up sustainability strategies in harsh environments on Earth. The fact that Musk is intent on reaching Mars as the only difficult problem just underscores that he is not serious about settling Mars (or, perhaps, that he simply isn't that bright).
Almost nobody stays over the winter in Antartica because its horrible and cold. Given Mars is significantly more hostile, what chance has anyone got in surviving there and remaining sane and well ?
Anyone who is trying to sell a Mars base is either ignorant, a moron, a massive grifter, or all of the above.
"Humanity" isn't a preschool classroom where we all hold hands and do one thing at a time like the teacher says. It's fine for some people to be working towards the future while others are trying to fix things in the present.
A couple thousand people live in Svalbard, though.