Antarctica is a herring. (And similar analogies like building an underwater city.) It's inhospitable, but land usage rights are tied up among the international

Antarctica is a herring. (And similar analogies like building an underwater city.) It's inhospitable, but land usage rights are tied up among the international community (not for bad reasons) so you can't just take a ship of pilgrims and supplies there and start building and hunting penguins as you please. And even if you could, you'd still have to worry about outsiders. Mars is an entirely unowned dead planet and the first-mover advantages will be huge. If you can get things there, tools and people, no one's going to stop you from doing what you want.