Somehow we’ve embarked on the biggest project in history even though it has no articulable purpose, offers no benefits, and will cost taxpayers more than a good-sized war. Even the builders of the Great Pyramid at Giza could at least explain what it was for. And yet this project has sailed through an otherwise gridlocked system with the effortlessness of a Pentagon budget. Presidents of both parties now make landing on Mars an official goal of US space policy. Even billionaires who made their fortune automating labor on Earth agree that Mars must be artisanally explored by hand.
The whole thing is getting weird.
Source: Why Not Mars (Idle Words)
It is my contention that the first space program was cover for developing rockets and guidance systems to neatly deposit nuclear warheads on Russian leaders with pinpoint accuracy. Might a manned mission to Mars offer a similar Trojan Horse vehicle to develop actual “Star Wars” weaponry, in space, and on the moon? It would explain the ease of getting that funding through Congress. The deep state always gets what the deep state wants.
Regardless, this is an incredibly well-written article, and worth linking for its own sake. I mean:
Like George Lucas preparing to release another awful prequel, NASA is hoping that cool spaceships and nostalgia will be enough to keep everyone from noticing that their story makes no sense.