As someone who is not at all well versed in this area - this surprises me.
Surely if there is anywhere in our solar system we have a chance of successfully colonizing, Mars is it.
It seems like the obvious first step. Where would you recommend?
Surely if there is anywhere in our solar system we have a chance of successfully colonizing, Mars is it.
It seems like the obvious first step. Where would you recommend?
And for second steps you'd probably want someplace that is more useful in resources, like some of Jupiter's moons. Mars is probably the last place you'd want to go.
Then again, we don't know how to build a colony on Mars any better than we can build a colony on an oil rig platform in the ocean, or build a colony in LEO. Even our colonies on Antarctica - Esperanza Base and Villa Las Estrellas - aren't able to grow their own food.
In any case, Mars is a better colonization target than both Mercury and Io.
Resource extraction does not require colonization. We have robots.
You think that a floating base in the upper reaches of the Venusian atmosphere is a good first step? No being able to make trips to the surface would limit human involvement to the floating base, so scientific exploration would be very limited. The complexity makes it much more challenging to become self sufficient.
How would you propose making a return trip? Or is it a one way mission?
As for Jupiter's moons. They are so much further away than Mars, are all much lower in gravity, and much colder temperatures than mars.
Our own moon and mars are much better candidates for humans to visit, and attempt permanent bases and perhaps colonies.