> Every time I see people get excited about Martian human habitation, I note a lack of discussion of the essential intermediate step: a fully self-sustaining base in the most inhospitable parts of Earth.
I remember a pretty popular book and a Hollywood starring Matt Damon which primarily focused on this exact problem.
Unless you're talking about an entirely different story with the same title, it's about an individual person trying to survive alone somewhere with very limited resources. At no point is his situation sustainable, and he only barely just survives to be rescued.
It really has nothing at all to do with developing a sustainable base on any planet. It's about some clever survival strategies, all of which are considered temporary at best.
I remember a pretty popular book and a Hollywood starring Matt Damon which primarily focused on this exact problem.