If the long-term future of humanity is at stake it's because we're imbeciles who can't stop smashing everything we touch. Going to Mars won't change that one iota, except that smashed things will turn out to result in mass death, because Mars is about as inhospitable a place as you can imagine. So the idea that Mars protects the future of humanity is hilarious and the product of far too many nights spent watching cheap Sci-Fi. Hey, boys, here's an idea! Let's leave the only planet we're adapted to and go live in underground bunkers drinking our own recycled urine and eating our own recycled feces while our bodies suffer from 1/3rd Earth gravity. Oh, and let's hope none of our systems fail because we depend on them for absolutely every breath we take. Why are we here? Well, a billionaire thought it would be a great place to put a panic room and he didn't want to out here all alone...