[JoeFromSidney]

I'm in favor of going to Mars, but not at taxpayer expense. Once we get nuclear propulsion, so the trip takes at most a few weeks instead of six months, the picture changes for the better. If there's money to be made, private industry will go.

[Mad Dawgg]

"I'm in favor of going to Mars, but not at taxpayer expense. Once we get nuclear propulsion, so the trip takes at most a few weeks instead of six months, the picture changes for the better. If there's money to be made, private industry will go."

Imagine our world today if your philosophy on Government funded exploration was in place in 1492. Or in 1803.

Governments do the initial exploration, and establishing the foothold/pathfinding. Private Enterprise then does the colonization.