Hello Raoul -

I can understand why you're confused. It's more of the same by a confused manned Mars flight supporter.

In short, the "single goal" which is part of a "grander program" is manned Mars flight. But manned Mars flight is dead - the public and their elected representatives do not want to spend money on this.

The good news is that what the public wants is for NASA to find the next asteroid or comet before it hits - and the best way of doing this is with man tended Moon based facilities.

The bad news is that NASA is doing nothing to satisfy the public's desires, but instead is digging in its heels trying to hold on to the old manned Mars flight paradigm.

ep