The website known as Florida Today has a special section today on the future of space exploration. It is a nice effort with some interesting articles, but I have a big problem with the main idea they're pushing. They're advocating that Nasa adopt an incremental plan that would culminate with a human mission to Mars in roughly 50 years. I just feel that you can set a goal so far off in the future that it becomes impossible for the general public to maintain any focus or excitement about it. With a 50 year goal people wouldn't feel like they, or to some extent even their children, would have much of a stake in it. Furthermore, there's no question in terms of realistic goals, that Mars has by far the most potential to excite and inspire people. To officially concede that it isn't going to happen in most adult's lifetimes could take a lot of steam out of the public's interest in the human space program. It seems to me that if the politicians and Nasa want to get serious about the eventual human exploration of Mars they need to do it at least within that 20 to 25 year time period that has so often been talked about. You can't have a space program with Mars as the main goal and then put it off fifty years into the future.