Only the private sector is capable of improving the cost and reliability of space transport to the degree necessary to establish self-sustaining life on Mars.

Some may be surprised to hear me assert that the commercial sector would improve reliability so dramatically, thinking perhaps that companies would make unsafe decisions to achieve low cost.

The lower price is based on NASA's estimate of the cost for transporting a shuttle from Kennedy Space Center to a major airport, and for displaying it indoors in a climate-controlled building.