A "mars colony" is fantasy hucksterism. It's very different than space exploration. Sending humans to Mars and back would advance science and engineering. Sinc

A "mars colony" is fantasy hucksterism. It's very different than space exploration. Sending humans to Mars and back would advance science and engineering. Since there is no Cold War "high ground" to be seized, the considerations are very different from Apollo. It has to be a chance worth taking, in terms of lives and money. It might be do-able soon-ish. Or it might not be. I'm content to wait until NASA can get astronauts back from Mars who are not an irradiated mess of brittle bones. This "backup drive" hogwash is meant to trick the gullible.