Hey, a place for the Tea Party Patriots to go to!
That’s what I was thinking! 
About half of those reasons only really apply to SF.
San Francisco? I know they are kind of touristy, but I didn’t think going there would get you away from the crowd.
Well, I was hoping for the Sun for them.
“Aim for someone over a Lake of Fire, huh? Well, we’ll try. But no guarantees…”
I suppose you’re right. Then again, the line between sf and reality does move, if slowly. They just landed a nuclear powered suv on Mars in a pretty sf way after all.
So, ‘merely’ insight into the geologic history of Mars? I’d like to see photos from the edge of the icecaps. Can liquid water exist up there? What does the place look like when it is all wet? What does alien ice look like? It is still pretty interesting.
You asked for it.
Mars Curiosity rover first photo
I don’t doubt we (humans that is) could get there safely, but getting back would be a bitch. The gravity is about 38% of Earth’s, meaning some kind of fueled rocket would need to be available to reach escape velocity and orbit.
Maybe we could send a return vehicle ahead of time? I don’t know, it sounds like a very costly experiment for little gain.
Well we know there is water on Mars, so the rocket could run on helium and oxygen. If we discover the right kinds of raw materials up there, a return vessel could be built by robots via remote control. Or the roving robots could construct an enormous 3-D printer…
Why do you hate Mars?
Because that cat wasn’t neutered. Martians are just as bad as my ijut neighbor!