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Mars, though, is different. While future bases could adapt to the Martian environment as well, there is also the possibility of modifying the surrounding environment instead of just co-existing with it. This is the process of terraforming – essentially trying to tinker with Mars’ atmosphere and environment to make it more Earth-like. Although still a long ways off technologically, terraforming the Red Planet is seen as a future possibility. Perhaps the bigger question is, should we?
My suspicion is that the time scales involved render this question largely moot. Turning Mars into what Martin Fogg once called "an arid and chilly Precambrian" might be accomplished over a period humans have shown the ability to manage projects but actually making Mars shirt-sleeve habitable has been estimated to take as long as 100,000 years (although Fogg felt at least an order of magnitude could be knocked off that with the right methods, so only about the length of time since we got agriculture).
