Long-term planning (an unfortunate lack, thereof)

>>>>I disagree strongly. The "long-term focus" --- or perhaps lack of any
reasonable focus --- is why NASA spends its dollars on the Space Station,
on Mars, and on other activities that bear little relation to making
near-term space industrialization using extraterrestrial resources happen.
Such space industrialization using extraterrestrial resources holds the
promise of starting an entirely new sector of the economy that will
eventually have an economic impact greater than that of the Internet. The
sooner this happens, the sooner the compounding effects of time and money
will benefit us all. The longer we wait --- for example, by spending our
money on more Mars probes instead of searching for ice at the Lunar poles
--- the longer those economic returns get pushed out into the future, and
the lower their net present value becomes.>>>>

Of course you are correct. NASA's disillusioned obsession with Mars will
actually postpone the date that we are actually able to achieve Mars
colonisation,
rather than speed it up. The O'Neill vision must come first. This is not
to say
that we should give no attention at all, to efforts that further our
understanding
of Mars. Nor would I be prepared to abandon projects that work towards
Mars colonisation.
Merely, I would assert, that the majority of our concentration should be
focused upon
the exploitation of the lunar and asteroidal resources. The use of these
resources
would allow us to build spacecraft that could ferry enormous numbers of
colonists
from LEO to the Martian surface. The idea of using Mars colonisation as
one of the
drivers behind space colonisation, is a good one. But it needs to be
realised, that
large scale colonisation of Mars, will require an enormous amount of space
infrastructure.
This can only be created by employing the plan that O'Neill laid out for
us.
It is the short-term rush to Mars, rather than the establishment of long
term
infrastructure, that is likely to waste a great deal of time and money.
Once again,
a lack of long term thinking.

Tony