I think Carl Sagan said it best in this replay of his voice over from “Cosmos”, over this recent video about "Wanderers".

You must admit it would really be cool to see some of these scenes in real life. Not safe, or even possible, perhaps, but darn cool!

" The open road still softly calls like a nearly forgotten song of childhood. We invest far off places with a certain romance, the appeal, I suspect, has been meticulously crafted by natural selection as an essential element in our survival. Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game, none of them last forever. "

I first heard this speech by Dr Sagan almost 40 years ago, and it is still as moving for me as it was then.

Another version of Sagan's comments

Thanks for sharing! I do think the unknown always intrigues us and Mars certainly qualifies as being “unknown” in so many ways!

Glad you enjoyed it. Dr Sagan was really great at inspiring awe and inspiration in listeners - or at least in this one.

"Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game, none of them last forever." A fact well known to hunter-gatherers in the Pleistocene, I suspect.

There are several moons and meteors that might be colonized - Ganymede, Copernicus, our moon almost certainly, especially on the dark side, for astronomical observations, Ceres.

This article discusses possible colonation sites as seen by current science, and as described in the novel series "The Expanse" . An interesting discussion of pro, and cons, of distant self sustaining off Earth colonies - most of which will not be on planets, but smaller astral bodies, moon and meteorites or sub planet size masses.

Science vs. The Expanse: Is It Possible to Colonize Our Solar System?The hit Syfy Channel show The Expanse, based on the incredible series beginning with Leviathan Wakes by writing team James S. A. Corey, presents a bold and dark future for the human race. Humans ha...www.tor.com

Long list of of pro and con arguments at the tail of the above link too.