Hello Nick -

The "thinking" among a number of US Space Frontier Foundation members is that if we (the US) were not building ISS, we would be building a manned Mars craft on a national or an international basis.

One "corollary" to this assertion is that we should not build ISS, so that we can build a manned Mars ship. Since ISS construction is well under way, the next "corollary" is that we should do everything we can to ensure that ISS fails, so that those funds can be used to build a manned Mars ship.

Generally, people believe what they want to believe. In this case the Space Frontier Foundation believes that both the public as a whole, and their representatives, share their intense desire for the exploration and settlement of Mars.

They don't. While it is true that the public favors manned Mars exploration, that is only true if they do not have to pay for it. Ask them for cash sufficient for the task, and the poll result changes dramatically.

Back here in the real world, if the US were not building ISS on an international basis, it would not be building ISS at all. AND the US would also not be building a manned Mars ship, NOR for that matter would the US be operating manned spaceflight systems at all.

As I was saying, generally people believe what they want to believe. Another thing that the Space Frontier Foundation believes is that space systems are far easier to design and build than they are, and that it is only governmental overhead (bureaucracy) which keeps those expenses so high.

These beliefs are also held by a number of Mars Society members, but in this case their beliefs are largely based on the hope that a process which has only worked in the laboratory, and even then on a very limited basis, can be scaled up to work on an industrial scale on another planet. Further, they also hope that the public feels that launch systems are reliable enough to safely launch large nuclear payloads.

None of these assertions is true. Given this, the US could not fund those purportedly "cheaper" efforts of the "private sector", as they simply don't exist.

One funny thing about belief systems is that actions speak louder than words. Given that, take a look at what the members of these societies do, rather than what they say. Do any of them actually go to the private sector? No - they form lobbying organizations to get public funds.

Usually, nonsense is recognized as nonsense. When it isn't, its usually a case of others using the true believers for their own ends. "watery" Mars, which you are familiar with, is a very good example of this process.

EP