Mars city question

[Drashner1]

NASA will test the MOXIE system, which will create conditions for future colonizers of Mars. The device converts carbon dioxide on Mars into oxygen.
Perhaps there will be some small settlement, but not a city. It is hardly necessary at all. Why don't we take care of our own planet?

Hi There - Welcome to OA!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the OA setting, please feel free to ask. Similarly, if you'd like to join in on any ongoing conversations, or start a new one, please do.

Regarding your specific post here...

Given time settlements tend to grow into cities, assuming they don't stay small (towns) or fail entirely (ghost towns). So if they do grow, systems to handle that growth will be needed.

As far 'taking care of our own planet' - the short answer is that we don't want to. The longer answer is that people demonstrably feel the 'cost' in the short term of adjusting our behavior to 'take care of' our planet outweighs the benefits, long term or short.

In neither case is 'not taking care of the planet' a question of lacking the resources to do so, so citing interplanetary exploration or colonization as a reason for why we don't take care of the planet doesn't really make sense. The resources used for such things are tiny compared to the resource base of the planet so seem highly unlikely to figure into any consideration of cost.

My 2c worth - and once again - Welcome to OA!

Todd

EDIT - Note btw that I am not arguing against taking care of our planet - but arguments that we should forgo space exploration or colonization toward that end or until we solve every conceivable problem on Earth make no logical sense.