Reinforcing your point, Mars is the distraction. Your launch window is every two years, and the participants have signed-on to a suicide mission. There's no ch

Reinforcing your point, Mars is the distraction. Your launch window is every two years, and the participants have signed-on to a suicide mission. There's no chance to change your mind should you realize you've made a mistake. With the Moon you don't have to sign-on for living there for the remainder of your life. You have the comfort of being able to see Earth nearby, and being able to get supplies as required on a regular basis. Sure, the goal is to build a self-sustaining colony, but there's a lot to figure out for how to take that out of science fiction and make it a reality. The lessons learned can be applied to a Mars colony. Ironically, Elon's obsession with Mars is the biggest threat to further delay our ability to create a viable colony on Mars.