re: Incremental testing offers exploration opportunities
Larry wrote:...Done properly, the technology would be useable for a variety of missions, not optimized for any one of them. Once you've proven a technology is good for 6 to 12 months, you've developed a reasonable confidence that it would also be good for a 12-24 month round trip to Mars.
Chris writes: Look we haven't done this so far with space because of the costs. We always optimize for the mission planned. To suggset we will start to do things more expensively to meet goals not planned into the mission is just not going to happen.
You build for Mars and the Hab could easily be used to do NEOs and the Moon and would work for a base at L1 or the Moon. Trying to do it the otherway around will get you Apollo redux.