BTW: The budget for this robotic Mars dirt retrieval mission is $7B. Based on NASAs track record on large projects, it’s unlikely to be less than double that.

BTW: The budget for this robotic Mars dirt retrieval mission is $7B. Based on NASAs track record on large projects, it’s unlikely to be less than double that. Elon Musk has estimated the cost of landing the first round of humans on Maes (probably over a hundred) at $10B total. Now Elon is a huge optimist on schedules, but on budgets he’s been pretty accurate.