A quick question here, I was talking with a friend about setting up a base on Mars to launch further expeditions into the solar system when he said it would be better to launch space craft from Earth orbit to avoid the gravity well of Mars. I got online to check what the escape velocity of Mars is (5.027 km/s) compared to that of Earth (11.186 km/s). Then I checked to see if distance would become a factor in deciding which base would be better. The distance from the Earth to Mars is ~56,000,000 km. So, what it all comes down to is... Which is more fuel efficient? If we take out all the variables of establishing the bases and finding the materials to build space craft, which would be the best choice for future space launches?