(Red Orbit) Robert Zubrin uses his vision of the past to extol his vision for the future, but he never allows himself to go off on a tangent. [...]
"Mars is like North America, the moon is like Greenland," Zubrin said. "Greenland is closer to Europe, easier to reach, but it was not really a place where you could establish a branch of new human civilization. That's why we need to make Mars our goal."
It's why there's a Mars Society, because the planet "resolves the question of existence of life in the universe," he said, "and because of the future of humanity. Mars still has the resources to support life in ways the moon ... doesn't have."
Although Mars is a very unique world, it unfortunately will not pay the bills (unlike our lunar neighbor). Traveling to Mars first would be financial suicide as there are no known major resources on the planet or hints of any being discovered. It would mean trillions of dollars of debt for perhaps millions in profit.
The Lunar idea seems not only more profitable, but logical as well (Hint: it is much closer).
Update: Added source link.
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