I feel that colonizing Mars is an inevitability. However, at this time, I don't at all think it is a good idea to go forward with colonizing a planet. We have no clue as to what we are doing here. Terra-forming is a science that's still a fiction. Getting people to survive the journey without major long-term issues is still being figured out. A human being hasn't even set foot on the planet yet, so why would we consider building a settlement on the surface?
Exploration missions are a great stepping stone, but constructing a colony is jumping way too far ahead. I expect the first few attempts at Martian colonization to fail. The whole thing is an investment, and one that doesn't show much potential for profit.
Instead of colonization, I'd much rather see more rover missions to other bodies in the Solar System. Venus is a great candidate for studying an extreme greenhouse effect, and Europa has something similar to Earth's water cycle but with liquid nitrogen and methane. Landing rovers on these worlds would also prove to be a nice challenge given their extremely harsh environments. Studies made on worlds like these can be much more beneficial compare to ones made on Mars, a planet covered in rust.
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