On Solving the Wrong Problem

 I've long been opposed to the huge amounts of time, money an talent which are being proposed in support of the quest to take people to Mars.  It has always seemed to me that an equivalent amount of resources devoted to combating human-induced climate change might actually have a chance of success.

It is indisputable that space-directed technology has produced useful results in the fields of earth and climate sciences.  If science wants to lob some instruments at the moon or further that is likely also to produce something of value to humanity.  Such projects, however, get dicey when the rockets are loaded with weaponry or when humans are included in the cargo, which vastly complicates things and results in astronomical budgets, along with clear threats of the extinction of life on earth.  

The men-to-Mars proposal as envisioned by billionaires like Musk will result in more billions flowing into their accounts, but is unlikely to yield anything of value to all the rest of us.  All of this is explained at length in an excellent article at Defector by Albert Burneko, Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars.