Perhaps the best motivation for going to Mars is political. It is obvious that no single nation currently has either the will or the resources to do it alone, but a consortium of nations and space agencies could achieve it within 20 years.
“Actually, I began to think that maybe there is a god, after all. Or maybe it's a different one. The old one got fired.”
“If I had it my way, I never would have left San Francisco, but things change and that's the nature of this business. We have to move on. We hopefully get opportunities down the road that we take advantage of.”