Critical time

> I think the current time is very critical.
>
> If we are to prevent the monopolisation of space resources by
> the 'let's get to Mars as soon as possible' we must start promoting
> the Gerard O'Neill vision now. We risk another short term mega-bucks
> blow out similar to Apollo with the delay of SPS and space
> colonisation, which are surely a more sensible course to take. This
> time there is a risk of other countries getting dragged in too.
>
A Mars project would not be as bad as you think if it is not cut abruptly as
the Apollo program. A Mars travel asks for the same delta vee as a trip to
Phobos or Deimos, both are made from common asteroid stuff. A mass driver on
one of these small world would launch at low cost the raw material for a
space settlement. In space, what count is not distance, it is energy or delta
vee. In that respect, the martian satellites are are better target than the
Moon. They are too the rearest asteroids-like object at hand.