So spending any money on this is a complete waste. Once again, Mars is not Earth-like, it is Mars like, and spending no amount of pulbic money is going to change that.

The money would be better spent sending an archaeological and geological team to the large impact crater which just became accessible in Iraq.

As a further indication of the waste, there are no plans to send men to Mars, and further no architecture for sending men to Mars which is cost feasable, and for the time being plenty of reasons not to send men there at all.

As for lunar geology, the only reason to send men there is to build a NEO telescope.

Geology on either planet can better be done by long range rover, (and I´m talking 10´s of kilometer range here) - and main reason for sending a rover to either the Moon or Mars would be to get an accurate date for a large impact crater floor - certainly not to look for water.

How about taking care of the planet you already have before taking on another one that isn´t anywhere near as good?

ep