I agree that NASA is a dead end for space exploration. NASA has done some great things, and continues to, but the central problem is that NASA is funded by Congress and its vision is set by each administration, and so long terms plans cannot be made. Also, the public has no appetite for long-term, high risk endeavors — especially ones that don’t have an obvious and tangible economic benefit.

Lastly, government funded projects are always horrendously wasteful. Witness the recent revelation that the cost for a single launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System will be about $2 billion — yes, you read that right.

We will only establish a long term and expanding presence in our solar system if visionary billionaires make it happen. That is the unfortunate reality. It takes someone with vision, resources, and technical wherewithal. Vision is the first step, because most people cannot visualize how it might evolve — they just cannot see the commercial undertakings in the asteroid belt that will fuel an expanding presence and lead to robust and rich communities on Mars. They cannot visualize space based factories that send finished products back to Earth. They cannot visualize ever-decreasing flight time through future fusion based propulsion.

During the late ’90s I used to tell people that most bookstores would go away, and that books would become electronic. The response was almost always, “No, that won’t happen — people don’t want to read books on their computer”. Most people simply could not visualize something like an iPad — they could not extrapolate past the bulky CRT on their office desk. The same is true for space exploration — it takes a visionary to see what the future might be, and government agencies, US presidents, and Congress are not known for that kind of vision; and if they were, the public does not have the vision: the slightest mishap and public pressure to shut down increases.