H3 doesn't do us any good if we are still 50 years away from mass fusion power. Some i hear are even doubting we will ever get it to work on a mass scale.
And the combined lift from here to the moon and from the moon to mars is more then the direct flight to mars. Plus, there is a lot more on mars we can use to create a colony there where-as we are left needing to carry more to the moon if we go there first. Also, a man on mars is a HUGE step forward, we can send robots to the moon in a few years that could do anything man could with ease.... he has more reasons in his book, a chapter i believe.
Zubrin, who was/is a top NASA guy and now critic suggested we could have colonized mars for less then the cost of the space station, which he said was a waste of time, money, and vision. He was at least correct about the space station....
At the time i believe he had a plan to colonize mars for under 40 billion USD.....
Claeren.
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