Only the very surface is red[0]. Martian crust is fairly normal rock underneath as I understand it. 16 psyche is one of the 10 most massive objects in the belt

Only the very surface is red[0]. Martian crust is fairly normal rock underneath as I understand it. 16 psyche is one of the 10 most massive objects in the belt. The belt is more than twice as far away, and transfers to it are much more variable over the years than the fairly regular Mars windows. Finding the “Goldilocks” object that supplies all our needs, can be regularly reached economically, etc etc isn’t an easy problem. Also, water gets you hydralox propellant, which is a bit of a pain in the ass. You really want organic compounds too so you can do methalox, which is one more constraint on Goldilocks. [0] https://m.phys.org/news/2013-05-curiosity-mars-rover-drills.html https://m.phys.org/news/2013-05-curiosity-mars-rover-drills....