>>10974738>space colony>down a dead gravitational wellTerraforming is a meme born from TV show with limited resources and uneducated/lazy writer.
Everything you'll need to achieve to build habitat on Mars will make living in space station easier.
>>10974743Bullshit. Your geologist in a clumsy space-suit (no matter what you heard about Mars being easier) is going to do is shovel the dirt, likely contaminate it, put it into a machine and send the result for analysis on Earth.
That and point a spectrometer at it.
The best I can do for you it keep the geologist (so he know what we ask him to look for) in orbit to control a robot (made with all the money you saved from reentry/take off vehicle) so there's no time lag. Even bringing back sample would be easier.
Even if you wanted to prepare a city on Mars you'd do use using remote heavy equipments. Remember the only reason we don't do it on Earth is by lack of technology, inertia, and because you can breath without needing to look at a timer.
