Originally Posted by crockett

Personally, I think it's a mistake to overlook the moon and to concentrate so much on Mars. I realize the guys working on this shit are smarter than any of us, but just seems like the moon is a more first logical step for space habitation vs Mars.

Added bonus, the moon would be a better spring board to get to Mars vs the Earth. They could stock pile supplies on the moon with many shorter trip and then launch those items to Mars with out trying to deal with Earth's gravity and a big heavy load.