We can already send robots to Mars. The challenge is sending living human beings. Thats where the innovations will come from, that goal will motivate and push p

We can already send robots to Mars. The challenge is sending living human beings. Thats where the innovations will come from, that goal will motivate and push progress. "And when [robots] die it is not a national tragedy." Exactly. No one, apart from a few invested souls, really cares. For this reason progress slows and innovation reverts to incremental steps rather than leaps.