How long do you think it will be before humans colonise Mars, and how important is it that we colonise Mars?

Question: How long do you think it will be before humans colonise Mars, and how important is it that we colonise Mars?
- Keywords:
  colonise,
  human,
  mars
Asked by BenjaminR to Joe on 12 Nov 2016.
- Joe Bathelt answered on 12 Nov 2016:
  
  Sorry for taking so long to answer. Unfortunately, this is not my field and I do not have a scientifically informed opinion on this. My personal view is that there are some major obstacles that need to be tackled before we can colonise Mars. For one, we need to find reliable ways to get there and then create environments on the planet that make it possible for humans to survive for longer periods. There are a lot of unknowns, e.g. how does low gravity affect the body in the long-run, can we create food and other supplies under the conditions of Mars, etc.? It seems like a great endeavour to be able to go to Mars, but I also do not really see the reason of why we would want to go there. Altogether, I think that it will take considerable time before humans will stay on Mars for longer periods, but we might see it in our lifetime, perhaps towards the end of it.

Question: How long do you think it will be before humans colonise Mars, and how important is it that we colonise Mars?