I agree that Elon's companies do have suspiciously many things to do with Mars habitats. However, the reliability of the tech we have is severely lacking. To g

I agree that Elon's companies do have suspiciously many things to do with Mars habitats. However, the reliability of the tech we have is severely lacking. To get off Mars, you are going to need a rocket. So then you need to land a rocket on Mars. Fully fueled. You also need a backup. We simply do not have that kind of reliability yet, and I don't think we're even close. Fine, we'll fuel it on Mars. That means a remote robotic mining-facility and rocket-fuel-plant, in nearly no atmosphere, in cold temps, up to 16 light-minutes away (at worst, true). So it's gotta be totally autonomous. And not explode while people are in transit. And it's likely going be on a pole, so that you have easy access to fuelstuffs. Which is boring as all heck compared to Valles Marianas (not a big deal, admittedly) If we have that tech on Mars, then the economy of Earth is going to look a LOT different. Self-driving cars aren't the half of it. Mars, in a nutshell, is VERY Hard.