Yep, we went from WW2 to a manned lunar landing in 20 years, and still haven't managed to build a permanent base on the moon since. What's up with that? Why don't we kick the government out of the space exploration business, and let commercial organizations go into space for development and expansion. Bingo - we'd have a viable, permanent, settlement on Mars within a decade!
We're working on that now. First, the X-Prize. Next, already under way, sub-orbital and — later on — orbital tourism, and commercial spacelaunch capability. Elon Musk's Space-X has already secured a contract with NASA to put payloads into orbit on the Falcon booster, which can put a payload within its launch capacity into orbit more cheaply per pound than the Shuttle can. There's plans in development for inflatable habitats as orbiting hotels.
There are still some substantial issues that need to be dealt with. It is not simply engineering science technologies that we already have seen in the lab, but developing new capabilities. One big issue: Solar radiation and sunspot flares. How do you keep people from dying from exposure on the moon? On Mars? On the trip to Mars? We were lucky with the moon missions to land through a significant solar lull. (The Sun is really boring right now too.)
We are working the problems as best we can without national political focus (and dollars) being devoted to the task. NASA has been a funding afterthought for three decades. The private programs are starting, but slowly.
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It's coming.
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We are working the problems as best we can without national political focus (and dollars) being devoted to the task. NASA has been a funding afterthought for three decades. The private programs are starting, but slowly.