That 9 month trip is a real killer, though. No dust storms on the moon, and solar power is way more efficient than on Mars. See, e.g. how weak rovers are overal

That 9 month trip is a real killer, though. No dust storms on the moon, and solar power is way more efficient than on Mars. See, e.g. how weak rovers are overall, despite having the best engineered solar panels that money could buy. Solar energy is only about 600Wm^-2 there versus more than double that on Earth. The Moon also has no atmosphere to scatter blue and UV light. Mars is a terrible idea for a long-term colony, IMHO.