asteroid mining is one of the biggest reasons for space colonization but people seem to think that being in a orbit closer to the asteroid belt makes it quicker to mine when this is the opposite case.
>"It would be intuitive to think that a base to mine asteroids should
be close to the asteroid belt, and hence further from the sun than the Earth, but detailed consideration of
astrodynamics brings this conclusion into some question. In terms of flight time, Venus is closer to the
asteroid belt than either,the Earth or Mars. This is shown in figure 3. For example, the minimum-energy
trajectory to the largest main-belt asteroid, Ceres, takes 0.95 yeears from Venus, and 1.05 years from Earth.
In terms of flight time, the closer you are to the sun, the more accessable the asteroids are.
The asteroids are not actually close to each other, and hence if a habitat is to support prospecting and
mining more than one asteroid, the asteroid belt is in some ways the worst location for it. An asteroid is as
likely as not to be on the opposite side of the sun, and although the Earth is further from the sun, that does
not put it closer, on the average, to any given asteroid. The higher orbital velocity of Venus actually makes
transfer orbits somewhat faster, as well as increasing the number of transfer opportunities (that is,
decreasing the synodic period). "
venus and mercury should be the prime targets of colonization