The Portuguese trade example leads to a distinction between extracting value and founding a colony. If the objective is access to materials, suitable asteroids may be easier to exploit than the surface of Mars. A Mars settlement instead creates another population whose early survival depends heavily on supplies from Earth. That makes the planet attractive as a new home while leaving it a difficult and dangerous economic project. Destination prestige does not remove the logistics of obtaining the resource actually being sought.
Notable Point · 26:58-27:52
Resource extraction and Mars settlement are different missions
Asteroids may offer easier access to useful materials, while a Mars settlement creates a population that must initially be sustained with resources carried from Earth.