Moon colonies are fools good. We should go straight to Mars, and there's a decent chance we will in the next 10 years. The question is will it be done haphazardly with no governmental oversight by corporations, or in a orderly fair manner by NASA and its foreign equivalents.
Mars has long been uninhabitable, and that's a fact. Was inhabitable maybe millions, billions of years ago? Yes, but since then it's simply not going to work.
Mars has water, Luna does not. (At least not in an easily extractable form.) Access to water, both for the liquid itself as well as both hydrogen and oxygen, is essential to any space colonization effort. Indeed, it likelier is easier to colonize Europa than Luna despite the distance and temperature hurdles to be faced. We already have the knowledge and technology needed to colonize Mars. What we lack is the will and the money.
The optimum colonization strategy is not likely to take place even when the money and will are available. Given the enormous costs of space transport, the colonists should all be fertile females along with frozen sperm and embryos. Mars Needs Women. It doesn't need men to colonize it.
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