You are correct that the Moon would make a piss poor lifeboat due to it's small carrying capacity. However, Mars has a far greater carrying capacity due to its size and resources.

While I said nothing about tsunamis, I also agree that the most destructive ones will be impact caused. However, there are intermediate causes beyond undersea landslides. At any rate, tsunamis have nothing to do with the issues Raoul and I raised.

The back contamination issue is also overblown. There is little chance life exists on the surface of Mars and even less that any existing life would be hazardous based on the opinions of experts who never the less recommeded caution. It is also a matter of balancing risks as we are being contaminated by Martian samples continuously. If Martian life despite the long odd exists and is dangerous it would be prudent to study it under more controlled circumstances. The risk of accidental release of a viable sample through sample return is probably less than that an uncontained viable sample has reached Earth in the past. ALH84001 would have been a viable sample except possibly for the sheer length of time it spent in space and the inevitable deactivating racemization of biopolymers that takes place even at low temperatures.

The false pretext of your Moonscope has been covered ad nauseum before and below.

The main obstacle to a human mission to Mars is not technological. It is political and/or financial.

Regards,
Mark