I would personally rather see something like a space habitat before colonizing Mars.
If we can artificially replicate Earth's environment in space, then we're set, we could drift through space when our solar system becomes too hot and ensure our race can live on . We wouldn't need planets anymore.
So, instead of having to adapt to Mars' conditions (low gravity and little atmosphere), we would build something capable of sustaining life as we know it.
Much more valuable if you ask me.
But still, going to Mars is great science and will give us very valuable experience.
> If we can artificially replicate Earth's environment in space, then we're set, we could drift through space when our solar system becomes too hot and ensure our race can live on . We wouldn't need planets anymore.
That's a few billion years off, so let's do the easier one first. Plenty of time to learn space habitats (and presumably a few billion years from now they'll seem pretty quaint).
If we can artificially replicate Earth's environment in space, then we're set, we could drift through space when our solar system becomes too hot and ensure our race can live on . We wouldn't need planets anymore.
So, instead of having to adapt to Mars' conditions (low gravity and little atmosphere), we would build something capable of sustaining life as we know it.
Much more valuable if you ask me.
But still, going to Mars is great science and will give us very valuable experience.