Mars offers no protection and not exactly rich on resources. I think, Venus sky cities[1] have bigger potential. There is a drove of resources plus free energy from Sun.
I think Venus will eventually be very interesting, but the lack of access to its surface means that all mineable materials will need to be imported, which is a big problem.
For getting started on long term self sufficiency in space (which should be a goal, if we’re taking crewed spacefaring seriously) we can’t really do much better than Mars. Once there’s more infrastructure in place for in-space manufacturing other destinations become a lot more practical.
For getting started on long term self sufficiency in space (which should be a goal, if we’re taking crewed spacefaring seriously) we can’t really do much better than Mars. Once there’s more infrastructure in place for in-space manufacturing other destinations become a lot more practical.