So lets see here Spiff, I should take the advice of the guy with no experience over what I saw with my own eyes just because its coming from you? Right.
I'm not defending NASA and their gold-plated programs. Their bureaucracy and fat budgets have stifled space exploration for decades. I'm not even talking about NASA, I'm talking about Rutan and your claim that he could get to Mars at a 10th of NASA's cost. I just don't think he can even get to Mars. I'm not convinced that Rutan can even achieve orbit, let alone achieve interplanetary travel. Look at the evidence objectively.
I like Rutan, I like what he's been able to do, but face facts. He's only taken a tiny microscopic step compared to launching a manned mission to Mars. Everybody is hanging their hats on Rutan like he's going to single-handedly finally launch human civilization into regular space travel. Given the evidence and the odds, I'm quite skeptical. Rutan got SpaceShipOne to go 1,890 mph to an altitude of 71.5 miles above the earth's surface. To achieve orbit he will have to escape earth's gravity and get a ship to go 17,480 miles per hour and achieve an altitude of at least 310 miles. To just get to the Moon, he'll have to go much faster and get his ship 238,606 miles and back. To go to Mars he'll have to go even faster and get his ship to go from 36 million to 250 million miles and back. Yet, because he built a fancy plane that barely touched the technical boundary of space for a moment on two occasions, you're ready to say that Rutan is going to lead us to Mars. I'm sorry if I just don't see it.