Going to mars has little to do with economics as it is dealing with population growth.
7 billion people will become 10 in a blink of an eye. 10 will become 20 in another and shortly afterwards there will be chaos because even with advanced technology you simply cant get enough food to sustain such without crazed things like screwing with plant genes.
Colonizing Mars is important because almost every part of it can be refined to grow and support.
The chain goes like this.
Ship, Shelther, Robot factory, Refineries/mines, lots of factories, dome buildings, Dome cities, Dome states, etc...
Obviously humans will not build these domes. Doing anything in a spacesuit (even a skintight one) is much harder than on earth so this will be a robot thing.
The impotant thing is you don't have to worry about "Ruining the environment" on mars because you wont waste anything and also whatever envrionment will be in domes not on the outside.
Also important is that you have all the materials you need on Mars. Steel? No problem! Glass? Easy! Rocket fuel? Are you kidding? dig a few feet and you got it. Silica? Plenty!
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