Every year, tens of thousands of people visit Antarctica, a place with nothing besides cold deserts and penguins.[1] We are not making the Earth less inhabitab

Every year, tens of thousands of people visit Antarctica, a place with nothing besides cold deserts and penguins.[1] We are not making the Earth less inhabitable. More people live on the planet now than ever before. In fact, many really smart people over the years have told us that the planet would never be able to support the current population. There's an undercurrent in this article that's extremely dour, depressing, and bleak. I take issue with that, but we can save that conversation for another day. People will visit Mars. In fact, for many decades it looks like tourism will be the prominent industry. Mars has water. Mars has CO2. We can make a breathable atmosphere and support ourselves, although it looks like living mostly underground is our best option for the foreseeable future. In my mind, what we need is cheap/free energy. Nuclear batteries look like the best option, at least initially. Also a modular, standardized deployment system where things plug into each other. It'd be good if for a while we equip every piece of gear going to Mars with power and an O2/water generator. No matter how it plays out it'll be interesting to watch. Too bad it will probably take a long time before we see a sizable population there. [1] Tourism in Antarctica. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Antarctica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Antarctica