Colonizing Mars

Colonizing Mars
http://www.startalkradio.net/show/st...aldrin-part-2/

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:
Colonizing Mars

http://www.startalkradio.net/show/st...aldrin-part-2/

At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can be easily exploited and exported to Earth.

On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:
On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:
Colonizing Mars

http://www.startalkradio.net/show/st...aldrin-part-2/


At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going
to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of
gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can
be easily exploited and exported to Earth.


Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one
part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its
perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.
Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.

Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon
anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It
seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.

Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It
would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,
though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.

Sylvia.

On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:

Colonizing Mars



http://www.startalkradio.net/show/st...aldrin-part-2/





At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going

to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of

gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can

be easily exploited and exported to Earth.





Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one

part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its

perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.

Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.



Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon

anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It

seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.



Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It

would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,

though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.


Sylvia.

Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less. Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth trillions all by itself.

The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at least another ten trillion per year.

Originally Posted by Brad Guth[_3_]

On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:

Colonizing Mars



http://www.startalkradio.net/show/st...aldrin-part-2/





At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going

to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of

gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can

be easily exploited and exported to Earth.





Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one

part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its

perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.

Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.



Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon

anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It

seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.



Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It

would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,

though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.


Sylvia.

Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less. Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth trillions all by itself.

The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at least another ten trillion per year.

Sending people to colonize Mars presupposes they have something useful to do once they get there. What could that be? None of the postings here really says anything specific about that.

Colonization is an economic exercise. Exploration can be done without regard to some financial return because investment is so small. Colonization DOES require a financial return because the investment is well into the tens of billions of dollars. So, again, what will Mars DO to pay its bills?

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013 5:11:03 AM UTC+13, MercuryAlpha wrote:
'Brad Guth[_3_ Wrote:

;1255164']On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else

wrote:-

On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

-

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:-

--

Colonizing Mars--

--

--

--

http://tinyurl.com/ps4fn5k--

-

-

--

--

-

At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going-

-

to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of-

-

gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can-

-

be easily exploited and exported to Earth.-

-

-







Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one



part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its



perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.



Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.







Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon



anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It





seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.







Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It



would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,



though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.





Sylvia.-



Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious

metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less.

Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth

trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good

dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of

carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth

trillions all by itself.



The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to

providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is

probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as

is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at

least another ten trillion per year.



Sending people to colonize Mars presupposes they have something useful

to do once they get there. What could that be? None of the postings

here really says anything specific about that.



Colonization is an economic exercise. Exploration can be done without

regard to some financial return because investment is so small.

Colonization DOES require a financial return because the investment is

well into the tens of billions of dollars. So, again, what will Mars DO

to pay its bills?









--

MercuryAlpha

You presuppose it is up to some third party to give people something to do and that their worth is predicated on being able to do that. People will go to wherever they are free to pursue their own happiness without torturous interference. They will decide what they want to do. The ability to make that choice is what will drive the expansion. All we must do is give them the tools. They will make use of them.

Charles James Fox, Britain's Foreign Secretary during the Revolutionary War described America as a vast wilderness of no possible use to Britain and urged King George III to cease military action there on that basis while urging fellow Whigs to support those unfortunates in America who abide by Whig principles, despite their untenable financial position.

Of course, the Revolutionary War was about the refusal of the King to accept Colonial Scrip in payment of taxes in an attempt to force the Bank of England's control of US currency on to the hapless Americans. The first and second banks of the USA failed for that reason, and today following the LIBOR fiasco, it may turn out that the Federal Reserve may suffer the same fate..

Today there is $222 trillion on deposit among 4.8 billion depositors world wide. There is $7.2 trillion in circulation. Regulatory capture by the world's major banking cartels have allowed since 1999 the issuance of Credit Default Swaps to rise from $0 (when they were illegal) to over $2 Quadrillion today - swamping the global banking system. These uncollateralized obligations have already sunk smaller, weaker economies, and threaten even the strongest economies in the world. The political process seems powerless to do anything about it. As a result, people have been innovative. In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym for the real author(s)) made available bitcoin - the digital equivalent of gold. Just as digital sound and digital images changed the nature of media, so too, will the digital representation of gold change the nature of banking and finance world wide. Most important is the development of a complete set of financial tools that operate reliably with the new cryptocurrencies. These include;

(a) market making,
(b) loan making,
(c) mediation,
(d) risk allocation,

these will be implemented in a direct peer-to-peer manner without reference to third parties. So, markets, banks, courts and insurers will be cut out of the loop, and denied their rents. Those rents, which will be far lower since they are determined by those using the process, not those providing the service, will flow to a new governing class.

In addition to this new invention there will be linkage to an older invention, that of Walter Dantzig in 1947 - linear programming. This is a branch of operations research which was developed in World War II to maximize the impact of limited military resources. This approach was generalized in 1947 by Dantzig, and in 1953 Wasily Leontief generalied it further using his 'input-output' method of econometric analysis. Linkage of this new form of money to this classic method of maximizing results with minimal input will create an emergent least restrictive governance without any appeal to central authorities of any stripe.

http://vimeo.com/29419399

http://vimeo.com/63822706

When the world's economy collapses it is very likely that people will flee to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and operate outside of law in an effort to preserve their liberties and wealth. When this happens, bitcoin will rise in value from $1.3 billion today to something on the order of $7.2 trillion. At that time bitcoin will be worth $700,000 to $500,000 each. Of course bitcoins may be sub-divided into 100 million parts - so each part - called a Satoshi - will still be worth less than $0.01 ! Capture of 0.5% of the $70 trillion global economy will mean that $350 billion will flow into the hands of the new system each year. This revenue stream discounted at 0.5% over 100 years is worth $27,490 billion. About 12.4% of the world's demand deposits. 93% of the world's wealth is in the hands of 344 million persons who have over $100,000 cash in the bank. It is clear, that if folks can be freed from the strictures of intrusive governance they will have more than enough money to invest in some really amazing things - among these the colonization of Mars and the transformation of that planet into a paradise of liberty and plenty.

I outlined a program using 1950s fission free micro-nuclear pulse technology using aneutronic fusion of the Jetter Cycle and 2000s self-replicating machine systems, that we could depopulate the world in 17 months, transfer everyone to Mars who cared to go, and provide them with an abundant life style. With appropriate tools such as the financial tools described above, that abundance will also be provided with unprecedented freedom and liberty.

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013 11:47:47 PM UTC+13, William Mook wrote:
On Tuesday, October 1, 2013 5:11:03 AM UTC+13, MercuryAlpha wrote:

'Brad Guth[_3_ Wrote:



;1255164']On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else



wrote:-



On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:



-



On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:-



--



Colonizing Mars--



--



--



--



http://tinyurl.com/ps4fn5k--



-



-



--



--



-



At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going-



-



to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of-



-



gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can-



-



be easily exploited and exported to Earth.-



-



-















Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one







part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its







perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.







Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.















Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon







anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It











seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.















Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It







would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,







though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.











Sylvia.-







Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious



metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less..



Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth



trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good



dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of



carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth



trillions all by itself.







The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to



providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is



probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as



is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at



least another ten trillion per year.







Sending people to colonize Mars presupposes they have something useful



to do once they get there. What could that be? None of the postings



here really says anything specific about that.







Colonization is an economic exercise. Exploration can be done without



regard to some financial return because investment is so small.



Colonization DOES require a financial return because the investment is



well into the tens of billions of dollars. So, again, what will Mars DO



to pay its bills?



















--



MercuryAlpha



You presuppose it is up to some third party to give people something to do and that their worth is predicated on being able to do that. People will go to wherever they are free to pursue their own happiness without torturous interference. They will decide what they want to do. The ability to make that choice is what will drive the expansion. All we must do is give them the tools. They will make use of them.



Charles James Fox, Britain's Foreign Secretary during the Revolutionary War described America as a vast wilderness of no possible use to Britain and urged King George III to cease military action there on that basis while urging fellow Whigs to support those unfortunates in America who abide by Whig principles, despite their untenable financial position.



Of course, the Revolutionary War was about the refusal of the King to accept Colonial Scrip in payment of taxes in an attempt to force the Bank of England's control of US currency on to the hapless Americans. The first and second banks of the USA failed for that reason, and today following the LIBOR fiasco, it may turn out that the Federal Reserve may suffer the same fate.



Today there is $222 trillion on deposit among 4.8 billion depositors world wide. There is $7.2 trillion in circulation. Regulatory capture by the world's major banking cartels have allowed since 1999 the issuance of Credit Default Swaps to rise from $0 (when they were illegal) to over $2 Quadrillion today - swamping the global banking system. These uncollateralized obligations have already sunk smaller, weaker economies, and threaten even the strongest economies in the world. The political process seems powerless to do anything about it. As a result, people have been innovative. In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym for the real author(s)) made available bitcoin - the digital equivalent of gold. Just as digital sound and digital images changed the nature of media, so too, will the digital representation of gold change the nature of banking and finance world wide. Most important is the development of a complete set of financial tools that operate reliably with the new cryptocurrencies. These include;



(a) market making,

(b) loan making,

(c) mediation,

(d) risk allocation,



these will be implemented in a direct peer-to-peer manner without reference to third parties. So, markets, banks, courts and insurers will be cut out of the loop, and denied their rents. Those rents, which will be far lower since they are determined by those using the process, not those providing the service, will flow to a new governing class.



In addition to this new invention there will be linkage to an older invention, that of Walter Dantzig in 1947 - linear programming. This is a branch of operations research which was developed in World War II to maximize the impact of limited military resources. This approach was generalized in 1947 by Dantzig, and in 1953 Wasily Leontief generalied it further using his 'input-output' method of econometric analysis. Linkage of this new form of money to this classic method of maximizing results with minimal input will create an emergent least restrictive governance without any appeal to central authorities of any stripe.



http://vimeo.com/29419399



http://vimeo.com/63822706



When the world's economy collapses it is very likely that people will flee to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and operate outside of law in an effort to preserve their liberties and wealth. When this happens, bitcoin will rise in value from $1.3 billion today to something on the order of $7.2 trillion. At that time bitcoin will be worth $700,000 to $500,000 each. Of course bitcoins may be sub-divided into 100 million parts - so each part - called a Satoshi - will still be worth less than $0.01 ! Capture of 0.5% of the $70 trillion global economy will mean that $350 billion will flow into the hands of the new system each year. This revenue stream discounted at 0..5% over 100 years is worth $27,490 billion. About 12.4% of the world's demand deposits. 93% of the world's wealth is in the hands of 344 million persons who have over $100,000 cash in the bank. It is clear, that if folks can be freed from the strictures of intrusive governance they will have more than enough money to invest in some really amazing things - among these the colonization of Mars and the transformation of that planet into a paradise of liberty and plenty.



I outlined a program using 1950s fission free micro-nuclear pulse technology using aneutronic fusion of the Jetter Cycle and 2000s self-replicating machine systems, that we could depopulate the world in 17 months, transfer everyone to Mars who cared to go, and provide them with an abundant life style. With appropriate tools such as the financial tools described above, that abundance will also be provided with unprecedented freedom and liberty.

Wooden Ships
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jpJOH4sbaw

Military Madness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czUx2gvjdJk

Defense Budget - William Mook
http://vimeo.com/49112021

Woodstock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKdsRWhyH30

We are stardust we are golden and
We've got to get ourselves back to the garden

Find the cost of freedom
buried in the ground
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down

Afer the Gold Rush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e3m_T-NMOs

I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun
There were children crying
and colours flying
all around the chosen ones
All in a dream
All in a dream
the loading had begun
Flying mother nature's silver seed
to a new home in the sun
Flying mother nature's silver seed
to a new home

Space Travel for a Sustainable Industrial Future
http://vimeo.com/37102557

Galactic Colonization
http://vimeo.com/38431018

On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:

Colonizing Mars



http://www.startalkradio.net/show/st...aldrin-part-2/





At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going

to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of

gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can

be easily exploited and exported to Earth.





Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one

part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its

perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.

Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.



Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon

anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It

seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.



Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It

would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,

though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.



Sylvia.

Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less. Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth trillions all by itself.

The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at least another ten trillion per year on behalf of salvaging our global biodiversity and reducing those pesky tidal force caused issues of modulating our planet and causing all sorts of plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanic and increased erosion issues in addition to its portion of melting our glacial ice.

Exploiting 0.1% of our moon offers 2.2e16 m3 of easily available moon innards for private, commercial and industrial use, and if this were to become valued at $100/m3 = $2.2e18

Selling off moon futures at a whole lot less, is still offering an impressive value.
$1/m3 = $2.2e16
$.1/m3 = $2.2e15

Each surface m2 as taken all the way down to the core = 8.69e5 m3

So, most any way that you’d care to exploit our moon is going to become extremely profitable.

A similar argument could be suggested for exploiting Mars, although the innards of Venus would not likely offer a viable alternative because it’s simply too hot inside.

On Monday, September 30, 2013 9:11:03 AM UTC-7, MercuryAlpha wrote:
'Brad Guth[_3_ Wrote:

;1255164']On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else

wrote:-

On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

-

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:-

--

Colonizing Mars--

--

--

--

http://tinyurl.com/ps4fn5k--

-

-

--

--

-

At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going-

-

to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of-

-

gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can-

-

be easily exploited and exported to Earth.-

-

-







Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one



part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its



perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.



Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.







Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon



anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It





seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.







Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It



would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,



though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.





Sylvia.-



Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious

metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less.

Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth

trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good

dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of

carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth

trillions all by itself.



The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to

providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is

probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as

is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at

least another ten trillion per year.


Sending people to colonize Mars presupposes they have something useful
to do once they get there. What could that be? None of the postings
here really says anything specific about that.

Colonization is an economic exercise. Exploration can be done without
regard to some financial return because investment is so small.
Colonization DOES require a financial return because the investment is
well into the tens of billions of dollars. So, again, what will Mars DO
to pay its bills?


--

MercuryAlpha

Mars likely doesn't have .1% of what our moon should have to offer, although that .1% volume of Mars should still be worth several trillions, unless Mars is basically inert.

Originally Posted by Brad Guth[_3_]

On Monday, September 30, 2013 9:11:03 AM UTC-7, MercuryAlpha wrote:
'Brad Guth[_3_ Wrote:

;1255164']On Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:13:08 PM UTC-7, Sylvia Else

wrote:-

On 24/09/2013 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

-

On Monday, September 23, 2013 5:51:13 PM UTC-7, William Mook wrote:-

--

Colonizing Mars--

--

--

--

http://tinyurl.com/ps4fn5k--

-

-

--

--

-

At a cost of perhaps a billion dollars per person per year is going-

-

to be extremely limiting, unless that little planet has loads of-

-

gold, platinum and other rare elements (including diamonds) that can-

-

be easily exploited and exported to Earth.-

-

-







Gold isn't really very valuable. A vast amount has been dug up on one



part of the Earth, only to be buried again in another. It's only its



perceived rarity that's given it an artificially inflated price.



Certainly not worth importing it from Mars.







Diamonds can be manufactured on Earth (being as they're just carbon



anyway) for less than the current market price of the natural form. It





seems unlikely that importing from Mars could possibly compete.







Anything mined on Mars has to be lifted out of its gravity well. It



would likely be cheaper to find a suitable asteroid and mine that,



though I remain sceptical even about the economics of that.





Sylvia.-



Except, wherever there is gold, all other heavy, rare and precious

metals have to exist, and a whole lot easier to come by none the less.

Even the easy pickings of gold upon and within our moon should be worth

trillions, and make that a hundred trillion for its platinum and a good

dozen other valuable elements. We'd also get access to tonnes of

carbonado as a bonus to go along with all of the 3He that's worth

trillions all by itself.



The whole moon of minerals, fluids and rare elements in addition to

providing unlimited failsafe off-world habitats and lots more, is

probably worth at the very least a thousand trillion in 2013 dollars as

is, and that's without even relocating it to Earth L1 as being worth at

least another ten trillion per year.


Sending people to colonize Mars presupposes they have something useful
to do once they get there. What could that be? None of the postings
here really says anything specific about that.

Colonization is an economic exercise. Exploration can be done without
regard to some financial return because investment is so small.
Colonization DOES require a financial return because the investment is
well into the tens of billions of dollars. So, again, what will Mars DO
to pay its bills?


--

MercuryAlpha

Mars likely doesn't have .1% of what our moon should have to offer, although that .1% volume of Mars should still be worth several trillions, unless Mars is basically inert.

So real estate futures would be an answer? Actually, I could see that as a very practical idea. Right now Mars has a dry land area roughly equal to Earth's. That is a LOT of real estate.
I could see a revenue stream coming from that for long time. . .