Which is why the &quot;activation energy&quot; for colonizing Mars is different than it was for the Americas (either time). Yet still, that doesn&#x27;t push colonizing Mars outside the realm of reasonable activities, it just means it requires more of a push.<p>People <i>want</i> to live on Mars, for lots of reasons. Mostly Mars colonization is about getting the activation energy lower than the latent resources available for doing it (which are substantial, make no mistake).