Greetings, I read your question and I cant really comment on the "big picture" of Mars I can however share my experience.
I caught the Ham radio bug from my last ship which is decommissioned now the USS Bainbridge, CGN-25, during my tour I had learned about Mars, became an operator, and ultimately the Mars "Officer" during my tour.
To address your question, I would fire up the rig late at night our time over in the gulf and the word was passed that mars was "up" for ship to shore phone calls and that would allow a crew member to talk with his wife who just had given birth, call home about a Red Cross death notice, or just a general welfare call home. We were away from home port for 6 months at a time and often found ourselves in harms way over in the gulf.
Back then I sure could have used a few more Mars stateside operators since many a night I would spend an hour or more trying to find an operator to set up a communications patch.
To those of you who worked NNN0CNP 20+ years ago I thank you for your service to my crew, the morale boost you provided was invaluable.
Sir, I hope this sheds some light on one small facet of Mars.
Tom French
N3UFJ