It seems that some users have exposed MARS one as a scam but it was not needed if the governments of the world cannot do it then, no one can. Besides there is simply not a good reason to go right now to mars, maybe in the future, there’s no rush.
There is a very good reason to go to Mars - all of humanity's eggs are on one
basket planet - literally.
I disagree with this if that is what you want, the moon could be enough. When I made my statement I meant “economic reasons to go to mars”. If an extinction level event that could destroy the earth and the moon was detected then we will have a reason to go to mars, but since this is not the case I think we’re fine on planet earth.
No.
It is actually a bit less costly in propellant to go Earth to Mars as opposed to Earth to Moon. Also Mars has plenty of the elements needed for life, such as N, H, and C. These basically do not exist on the Moon, with the possible exception of the ice deposits currently being studied at the poles.
Because of the lack of basic elements on the Moon, it is not possible to build self sustaining colonies there. For example, you could not make plastics. Iron could not be turned into steel because of the scarcity of Carbon. Many such issues. The Moon is good for many things, but human settlements, no.
Mars is better suited, but we are a long way from ready to do it.
Until such a time that we find that Mars has humic microbes, we would need to take some along if we ever wanted grow any plants in Mars soil.
There is no soil as you know it on Mars. Soil here is over 40% long decomposed insects and fauna. Think of Martian soil as simple powdered rock.
Powdered rock along with water, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon are exactly the things that humic microbes need to make soil. Of course, the process is enhanced by other things, including certain fungi that can live on rock. Extra protection for humic microbes from radiation may be necessary, since the atmosphere of Mars is so thin.
Wikipedia tells us that the process isn't fully understood. Possibly we would have great difficulty creating soil out of Martian rock on Mars, and it might even be impossible to do and maintain outside of laboratory conditions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humushttp://www.the-compost-gardener.com/soil.htmlAny "gardening" that was done on Mars would have to be done inside a pressure vessel with artificial lighting and as you mention, "manufactured soil."
There is no known way to make such vessels on Mar out of native materials, and certainly no known way to make the parts for artificial lighting or collection of solar power, and creation of electricial to run artificial lights. These areas would have to be temperature controlled.
All together this makes it very difficult to think in terms of acres of farmland.
Now how much land does it take to support one human?
A company called Bigelow Aerospace may have the answer. They have built blimp-like space stations -
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/bigelow-aerospace-shows-its-expandable-space-station-future-n322521. NASA is looking into this, and the thing might actually be way more practical than a first glance would suggest.
Float a blimp to Mars, or fly it there on a spacecraft, and set it up on the surface of Mars as a habitat. Actually, many such blimps could be shipped to Mars, un-inflated, in one flight. All materials for living conditions could be onboard.
Google "blimp space station" for more info.
