Yes, I think we need a 21st century update of the pre-Mariner Mars fantasy that captivated generations of space scientists. Detecting an Earth, probably before this decade ends would be the 1st seed in that dream. By an Earth I mean a roughly Earth mass planet revolving completely within a stellar liquid water zone. The next imaging step would be telescopes able to detect and analyze spectra. Any water, CO2, Nitrogen, etc? Detecting what appears to be an atmosphere modified by biology really kick starts the dream. Then a large space based interferometer observatory capable of direct imaging. No new physics required, just hard engineering problems.