Without a market it could be as plentiful as dirt, and as cheap. If you shipped it back to a market on earth, no doubt Uncle Sam would take his cut first, and you would be hard pressed to find one thing they were doing for you...All the leftist arguments about how you use the roads, bla, bla, bla... could not be stretched that far, though they would try...

Interesting thought OA. I wonder how much gold is on Mars too.

Me too. I wonder if ex-patriots on Mars will still be required to pay income tax to Uncle Sam...

How about we send Congress, The White House, and the Supreme Court given they are so out of touch with reality that it wouldn't make much difference to us anyhow. Then, "the path is (would be) clear."

By the looks of the world around us, I think we're all there already.

The Gulch was supposed to be temporary. Isn't one way kinda permanent? It will be interesting to watch. If I were younger I might consider it.

"The whole project will be televised, from the reality TV style selection process, to landing and beyond."

I don't watch much TV but this... this I'm going to watch.