> Would the average person today think it a good use of public funds to put people on mars? Yes, support for public funding of NASA has only been increasing fo

> Would the average person today think it a good use of public funds to put people on mars? Yes, support for public funding of NASA has only been increasing for the last 50 years: https://news.gallup.com/poll/260309/years-moon-landing-support-space-program-high.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/260309/years-moon-landing-suppo.... > NASA is lagging the private sector on essentially every axis What private companies are ahead of NASA in designing and running space telescopes and other fundamental scientific research? You can see a list of active scientific missions here: https://science.nasa.gov/science-missions/#all-missions https://science.nasa.gov/science-missions/#all-missions. What private companies are currently operating rovers somewhere besides Earth? What private companies are monitoring for solar storms and providing advance warning to power grid operators on Earth?