Building the route to Mars in stages

Should a crewed Mars expedition use a lunar base as its first staging point?

Yes; the plan first builds a reliable Earth-Moon system, then adds lunar observation and fuel support plus communications around Mars before sending a crew.

The proposed route to Mars begins by making travel between Earth and a lunar base routine. A Moon-based observatory could study Mars while robotic missions establish communications and imaging coverage around the planet before people arrive. Fuel production or storage at the lunar base would also reduce how much propellant each spacecraft must carry from Earth for the entire round trip. The staged plan applies transport-network logic to spaceflight: build infrastructure for each leg, then use vehicles suited to that part of the journey.