10. "They want to land like 3 times as much mass this time." In response to In response to 0
It's going to be way harder. One way to make it affordable (and repeatable) is to launch multiple rockets and have some refuel the main ship which will make the trip. This has never been done before.
Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a shit ton Helium 3 up there. Whoever controls that will have the ability to set up a gas station on the moon and control who has easy access to Mars and the rest of the solar system. Colonizers gonna colonize.