There's an article in the December issue of Wired magazine by James Cameron regarding the human need to explore that's worth reading. He makes good points about the state of our current space "program" (the quotes are mine to indicate the program isn't worth anything to speak of): that people are interested in the Mars rovers but not the space station because the former is exploring and the latter is construction, and that we haven't really been to space for 32 years. Cameron states, "The reality is that we have become risk averse, willing to coast on the momentum of past accomplishments." Bold words for a movie director, but his description of reality is incontestable. The truth hurts, as they say. The most profound assertion in Cameron's essay is that: "Exploration is not a luxury. It defines us as a civilization." Well put.

The NASA bigshots making the decisions for our off-planet objectives certainly lack imagination and will. There's so much bloat and graft that doing anything halfway requires tens of billions. That's not the way it should be. Part of the benefit of privatization is that things are done on a budget and for a profit, so they necessarily have to be lean and done on time. By the same token, some safety measures must be imposed, at least when spaceflight graduates from an experimental science to a commercial endeavor, as Corporate America isn't exactly known for having the best interests of its consumers at heart. Perhaps the FAA will become the "Federal Aerospace Administration".