"Is Mars really the best target? Sure it's close but there are moons around Saturn that are interesting as well. Titan for example." First, for what is worth,

"Is Mars really the best target? Sure it's close but there are moons around Saturn that are interesting as well. Titan for example." First, for what is worth, I share your Mars questioning. But then I can't just let you downplay the distance factor with "sure it's close" glossing-over. One can find interesting tools out there¹ that may help grasping the astronomical distances better. The bottom line is that it just makes more sense to take our chances with planets closer to us and so far, at least with the landing on Moon, the humans respected in this regard their species' "rational" self designation. ¹ http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html#earthtxt http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.h...