Second release

Getting out of the hospital again this afternoon. I am much too well known here.

The obvious

Stop the bleeding is obvious. More obvious is the 'leaders' of all parties are traitors to this country.

3.5% gets us mars.

Let's kill one myth to start... NASA needs more money. Quoting from the book I may never get published...

"Back in 1973, the total cost of the Apollo program reported to Congress was $25.4 billion."  Annual inflation from 1973 to 2015 was 4.15%.
(See http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm)
That's $140 billion in 2015 dollars. 

NASA's budget today is over $18 billion per year which is $180 billion per decade vs. $140 billion for Apollo.

So how much would it cost to establish a colony on mars?

No matter what the plan, it should occur in two phases, the first could start today.

1) Cargo phase. Pick a spot and send 40 tons of presupply there. 10 tons being food. During this phase we are testing our human landers (Dragon version 3) Should take 6 to 10 years at $625m per year (6 or 7 FH per launch window. 2 tons per reaching the surface.)

2) Human phase (only after production rates have been established for water, breathable air, [methane] fuel and electric power and landers have a heritage) we send convoys of Dragon lander (2 crew per lander) with inflatable space at $200m per FH. Those inflatables are stored for landing to become farms and habitats on mars.

NASA confirms emDrive produces thrust

Why does understanding hold us back? If it works, use it.