Elon Musk: Mars in 10 years.

Elon Musk: Mars? Lemme take a crack at it.

The head of SpaceX is clearly an optimist. He claims that with proper incentives, a private space company like his could put a man (or woman) on Mars in a decade. Meanwhile, whole countries like China hope they can put someone on the moon by 2020.

Somebody’s dreaming. On the other hand, only dreamers reach for stars and only talented dreamers (perhaps like Musk) could actually hope to succeed.

In any case, while Lockheed-Martin and Boeing are saying “we can’t”, ambitious startups like SpaceX are saying “let’s go!”

Still, while the president’s new plans for NASA are encouraging for companies like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, they are limited in scope and singularly uninspiring. Obama calls for private spacecraft to put astronaut into orbit and aboard the ISS. And he want lots of studying on how we could send people beyond earth orbit.

But he isn’t prepared to actually send anyone; he just wants studies.

In any case, SpaceX claims it can send astronauts to the International Space Station for a fraction of the current cost of such a trip. Furthermore, the company’s Dragon/Falcon 9 spacecraft and launcher could be capable of sending people around the moon. (It has lunar capabilities; SpaceX has not been suggesting such a manned flight—but it seems within the possibilities of a revised version of their vehicles. A much better heat shield would be required, for example.)

It looks  like, as far as space is concerned, America is going nowhere fast. But SpaceX seems to be chomping at the bit to go further. I like that attitude.