That's interesting. Coz I would have thought a little differently. We start off by sending the marketing types to Mars, closely followed by other bureaucrats. Throw in convicted felons and prison wardens.
No, no, no. We've tried marketing types with the Moon--for years and years--and it's largely been a disappointment for serious people. But the real estate is still relatively cheap; and, if you are so minded, you can, for example, buy a "10 acre VIP plot" here:
https://www.moonestates.com/ For top-end lunar real estate, you probably want to look into the "
Bay of Rainbows", "
Lake of Dreams", "
Sea of Tranquility" ... here:
http://www.lunarregistry.com/moon-land/index.php ("Nominal" fee covers expedited handling and shipping of your title deed.) The names suggest what escaping Earthians might be looking for ... Etc. Etc. Etc. But!
These moon types don't offer certain basics that many of us would want---roads, schools, water, sewerage treatment, grass, oxygen, etc. They simply sell you the land and leave you on your own. That's a joke for serious people. Mars is where the real action is headed.
There are, of course, marketing types selling land on Mars---e.g. the Lunar Embassy ($24.99 per acre, shipping and handling of title deed included, extra for DHL or FedEx)
http://www.lunarembassy.com/#!prettyPhoto and it could well be the case that they are, as they claim, "
the only recognized world authority for the sale of lunar and other planetary real estate in the known solar system. Please be advised that any others are copy cat companies without authority, soliciting your money for unauthorized products", but they fail in the basics---roads, schools, water, sewerage treatment, grass, oxygen, etc.
As for starting with convicts, it suffices to look at Australia: all one ends up with is a bunch of Australians. That---Australianization---would not bode well for the species
Homo Sapiens.