Talk of colonizing Mars is premature.
We need to go back to our own moon and work out all the kinks of developing human settlements on another world, before attempting something as grandiose as what Musk and Robert Zubrin advocate.
I agree completely. It’s just sobering to consider the elapse of time since Apollo. My dad used to tell me that he told his friends in the 1930’s that men would go to the moon in his lifetime. So in say 35 years that came true. Now, another 46 years down the rode, we are very far from being able to repeat that achievement, and yet we have all this big Mars talk. I think it’s ridiculous.
We are not going to the Moon or Mars.
We are under quarantine.
Musk is blowing smoke (other posters gave several good explanations of his motivation).