You wrote: "Mars in reality would be a rather dark, gloomy place...not the shining desert vistas reminiscent of Nevada that we commonly see.

Minor quibbles..."

I dunno if they're minor or not. It seems to me that a large part of the "selling of Mars" relies on such unrealistic renderings of Martian vistas. Yeah, they're beautiful; too bad they're not accurate. Any human on Mars would find himself in an alien world, indeed, as even the colors of familiar objects would be seen in a new light, a wan light, a dim light possessing little warmth or intensity.

It's a ong way to Mars, even for sunlight. Any humans going to Mars better take a good supply of happy pills, because I doubt if the late John Denver's "sunshine on my shoulder" is going to have much effect on the Red Planet.

sp