I do believe we need to conquer the ocean before we can move to space. Otherwise we need to wait for governments and NIMBYs to "allow" us to go to space.

The point of our initial seastead was to create a support community for a space launch facility in the open ocean. The aerospace engineer putting it all together and funding it (with his Vladmir Club level bitcoins) is planning on building a launch loop about 60km wide. From there he can launch things into space repeatedly minutes or seconds apart. The seastead I lived in was not built to be a home, rather an observation tower.

He is determined to move forward on this and build a prototype 300m diameter loop in the next year or so as a proof of concept.

Also, going to Mars seems to be a government supported thing. Why go through all of the hassle to get to space...only to get stuck on another rock?