Jacob, I must disagree. I think you're reading too much into O'Keefe's comments.

I generally interpret the phrase "to what end?" to mean simply "why?", or in this case, specifically, "where's the profit?". O'Keefe is a Ferengi in disguise.

I would answer O'Keefe by paraphrasing Tsiolkovsky: "To what end is a newborn baby?"

I always found the Ferengi fundamentally unbelievable, because they'd have never made it into space crippled by their obsession with profit. Some things are simply necessary expenses and you have to bite the bullet and pay for them. Would you refuse to buy food (for your own consumption) simply because you can't make a profit on it? Other expenses are profitable so indirectly that the investment is a matter of vision and faith--parents buying a college education for their kids, for example. Exploring and developing Mars falls solidly into the latter category, I say. We'll never do it if we're so shortsighted as to expect an immediate profit, yet (I have faith) it will pay off handsomely down the road.

--Robert