expanding into less and less hospitable environments

the thing is that Mars isn’t even that inhospitable. It only appears that way today because people have no knowledge of it behind the surface.

Like, all you really need to build a settlement is water, electricity and a source of carbon. Mars has all three in ample amounts. There is lots of water on mars (see here). It’s just that it’s buried in rock and needs to be extracted through a technical process.

That’s very unlike Antarctica and the bottom of the ocean where you don’t have energy. And that matters.

Also there’s a spiritual/mystical element to it. People would only complain about “environmental protection” if somebody started drilling for oil in antarctica large-scale to grow food, but on mars there is no such concern. In fact, it is widely recognized that spaceflight is an inevitable destiny of humanity and that humanity needs to turn into a society that routinely relies on high-tech for this, and mars seems like the perfect playground for this. At least that’s how i look at it. Ask away if you have any serious questions :-)