The one thing the Moon will always have over Mars
It's a lot closer to Earth. It's an obvious world to anyone who can look up at it.
It's a symbol and a destination in one.
Mars will always be just a bright reddish-orange "star" from Earth, despite what
the e-mails say every August. :^)
That will be the overall draw to explore and settle there.
And I also think it's a good place to start our first world-based base beyond
Earth if for no other reason that it will make for good practice before we try it
on worlds that are months and years away from help.