take asteoids and comets, for example...

Mars is not the southwest US, nor the plains of Kazakhstan or North Africa. The public at large has absolutley little interest in funding anyone's delusions that it is. Their desire to fund manned Mars flight descreases with every new image returned by the MER rovers.

Further, manned Mars flight simply will not be allowed until back contamination is definitively shown not to be a hazard, and throw whatever kind of tantrum you wish, this is going to require more than hand waving and mud slinging to accomplish.

The only chance of keeping the space infrastructure functioning until such time as manned Mars flight is a viable option is to support Bush Jr's plan and use it to implement a Comet and Asteroid Protection System (CAPS).

ep