Thanks Pod
I appreciate the description of the process. Clearly what Steve Squyres is suggesting is the reconnaissance stage. It's pretty much the same for the Psyche probe.
"One bridge at a time." Perhaps given the immense distances involved we could do two or three metaphorical bridges per mission? Prospecting and drilling could be done with AI robots? Perhaps delineation could be accomplished by powerful sensors? What do you think?
The fifth and sixth would go hand in hand. As ER points out, if it is so difficult to extract and transport that it isn't profitable, it will never happen.