An earlier post speculated about colonizing the largest of the asteroids in the asteroid belt.
The main problem is how to get there. The delta-v is 4k km/sec more than a Mars roundtrip mission.
One possibility is to use a nuclear thermal rocket to get there. The ISP is nearly double that for LH2/LOX, so you need less fuel for the same payload.
According to something I heard on the space show with one of the guests, a nuclear thermal rocket could make a big difference in a Mars mission. It could make a big difference in a mission like this too, at least I suspect that it would.
Here's the previous post on the subject.
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