The problem is competition (or lack thereof). The space race was not fueled by just wanting to set foot on the moon. Keep in mind the Soviets were trying to a

The problem is competition (or lack thereof). The space race was not fueled by just wanting to set foot on the moon. Keep in mind the Soviets were trying to advance their space program as well, and prior to all of the space treaties this was a war for claiming new ground. Old Soviet schematics actually show some crazy designs, like satellites with (freakin') laser beams mounted on them. Now, it does not really matter who gets to Mars first - its certainly not a competition any one person or company wants to risk billions of dollars on. Even if you grouped together some of the most prolific VCs, their cumulative budget would be fairly small for taking on large scale problems. The problem is that money has to come from somewhere to take on big problems, and no one wants to shell out.