Given that your comment is well constructed, you seem to be dismissed simply for not having the same point of view. I'll try to engage constructively.

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If I read you correctly, you are raising two arguments:

1. what does an individual gains from participating in the project

2. objectively, why homo sapiens?

Regarding 2, I would say that there is not much to say aside from that we are not objective, and would prefer it if it was “us” who got to get to Mars.

I find point 1 much more interesting, especially what it says about society. Some individuals are very interested in the colonization of space, but not all are ready to directly work on it, and others are just uninterested.

However, having a structured government and a tax system allow us to make better use of individual skills, even that of those who are not directly interested in the project. Additionally, this is the kind of project where the ROI would be very long term and hard to estimate. Large scale coordination (governments and international institution) allow to make use of the "surplus workforce" that automatization is slowly making grow.