SciFi giants Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke were way off in their timeframes for Martian exploration. They correctly projected the technology but not the will.
simply a question of priorities...
this is much more important than giving NASA 1.5 billion for Mars:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2844719/posts
Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, ...