> Mars does have everything we need long term. Earth doesn't have it for the long-term high-tech life under our current ways of life. We use hydrocarbons as th

> Mars does have everything we need long term. Earth doesn't have it for the long-term high-tech life under our current ways of life. We use hydrocarbons as the main source of energy, and we used up half of them in just 100 years. The other significant source of energy is liquid water in the atmospheric cycle, completely not existing on Mars, due to the lack of the comparable atmosphere. We have problems with the small changes in weather here on Earth, consider the weather conditions there if we would try to mess up with the atmosphere there. If you tell me "nuclear energy" - look how fragile it is on Earth. In Mars environment it's even more. The life on Mars is not self-sustainable. Having a colony there won't allow us to discover the solutions which we lack right now on the Earth.