So, what are your guy's opinions on SpaceX/NASA/etc?

@MrTaco mining the materials would not be impratical, bringing the materials back would be impractical. Having a lot of raw material, water, and whatever else is inside Mars would make it a great "pit stop" for future missions. Heck, it could all be automated if we really tried. That saves money on supplies for future missions and saves extra weight.

If it’s something like iron it wouldn’t be worth it. The price of building the rocket to transport the iron would always be more expensive than the total value of the iron your transporting.
If the Falcon Heavy were to transport iron from mars to earth (which it can’t) it would not be worth it. The Falcon Heavy costs 90million USD. The Falcon Heavy’s payload is 64 metric tons. The cost of iron per metric ton is about $64 USD. The total cost of the maximum amount of iron the Falcon Heavy could lift is $4,096 USD.
If SpaceX were to send a Falcon Heavy to Mars, fill it with Iron, then send it back earth, they would make a profit of -$89,995,904 USD. I think SpaceX would much rather get their Iron from Earth. @NerdsGalore

@MrTaco it doesn't even need to be rare to be mined. Raw materials are always good to have a fresh supply of

I could maybe see mining. But only if what was being mined was incredibly valuable and easily found on Mars. Maybe like Rhodium or Astatine? @NerdsGalore

@MrTaco maybe it's not practical to live there, but it is nice to have a fresh planet with resources and a backup if things go wrong

United States of Mars? @NerdsGalore

NASA is too worried about global warming. And SpaceX is too delusional to accept the fact that colonization on Mars is impractical and livable conditions unsustainable.
Doesn’t really matter who gets to Mars first. It’s not like there’s not enough room. Nonetheless SpaceX will probably get humans there first.

All the way SpaceX fan

What I'm worried about, is the fact that nobody else is there to regulate the first people to land there. Remember what happened with the New World? One of the countries there now is called the United States of America.

@Awsomur
Agreed

NASA and other government space programs should always be the first to step onto new worlds and the like. I hate to envision a SpaceX astronaut stepping onto Mars and proudly planting a corporate flag on it’s surface.