The best case scenario is the National Space Council looks into the pernicious influence of the NewSpace movement and decides to drop the commercial cargo and crew programs and also shut down that hole in LEO that billions of dollars are disappearing into. Along with splashing the space station to nowhere they might as well dump the Absurd Retrieval Mission and the J2M in the trashcan where they belong.

Going back to the Moon is the only logical path for Human Space Flight.
Let’s make America great again.

“Such huge and super capable spaceships could explore everywhere in our Solar System-”

Nuclear Pulse propulsion has a question attached to it- “What is the payback for those who will foot the bill?”

The answer is first to lift large amounts of water off the surface of the Moon that will enable replacement of the GEO satellite junkyard by human crewed platforms. And second to push spaceships that will replace the trillion dollar fleets of replacement subs, bombers, and missiles that will soon be required to maintain the strategic nuclear deterrent. Those spaceships can also defend the Earth against asteroid and comet impacts.

I have commented several times that if those two would switch from trying to build an LEO tourist empire for the uber-rich to building lunar landers I would immediately become a NewSpace advocate. As you well know, for what it’s worth, I presently consider Musk the worst thing that has ever happened to space exploration. Bezos is not far behind.

The first missing piece of the puzzle is that pressure-fed reusable booster originally specified for the shuttle. Both of them failed the genius test by not going to that all-important piece of hardware first. That failure is proof enough for me that they are working a scam.

From: ‘Impossible Spaceship Engine Called “EmDrive” Actually Works, Leaked NASA Report Reveals’
By Will Sabel Courtney The Drive November 8, 2016
At: https://www.yahoo.com/news/impossible-spaceship-engine-called-emdrive-194534340.html

And to help out the SLS/Orion with Lunar missions over the next five to 10 decades, we will soon have the New Glenn.

“New Glenn is described as a 7-meter-diameter (23 ft), two- or three-stage rocket.”

And, “The first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 methane/oxygen engines—designed and manufactured by Blue Origin—producing 17,000 kN (3,800,000 lbf) of liftoff thrust.”

From: ‘New Glenn’ Wikipedia
At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Glenn

Please tell the National Geographic Society to forget about human Mars missions for now.

We are actually headed to the Moon to tap its diverse resources.

And if we are really talking seriously about our ISRU future on the Moon, do not forget:

“Long March 9
Long March 9[18] (LM-9, CZ-9, or Changzheng 9, Chinese: 长征九号) is a Chinese super-heavy carrier rocket that is currently in study. It is planned for a maximum payload capacity of at least 130,000 kg[19] to LEO or at least 50,000 kg to Lunar Transfer Orbit.[20] Its first flight is expected in 2025 in preparation for a manned lunar landing in 2029.[citation needed] If produced, it would be classified as a Super Heavy lift launch vehicle along with the American Saturn V and unsuccessful Soviet N1; and the Space Launch System and Falcon Heavy currently under development in the United States.”

From: ‘Long March (rocket family)’ at: Wikipedia

And of course, the Next Generation Launcher might be quite reliable, efficient, and fast at getting urgently needed supplies to the Moon.

“Next Generation Launcher is a launch vehicle concept proposed by Orbital ATK as an EELV replacement program intended for national security and commercial satellites.”

…”Next Generational Launcher consists of Space Shuttle-derived solid stages with a cyrogenic upper stage provide by Blue Origin.[1] It is intended to be launched from Kennedy Space Center LC-39B or Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-2.[2]”

From: ‘Next Generation Launcher’ at: Wikipedia

We’ll need some really big gardens and farms on the Moon. Where are those Lunar lava tube geologists going to explore next?

Maybe President Trump will build some vacation resorts on the Moon.

Yep! That sounds pretty good to me! We all could use a good long vacation on the Moon…

Now what about those ASAP Lunar robots and Landers?

Exploring the Moon and tapping its resources are currently the most realistic destination and plan.

Humans need to reduce the high risks and costs of spaceflights.

Given our current and near-term technology and national and international space agency budgets, going to the Moon and industrializing it to produce large space based solar power satellites and benefit everyone on Earth is both doable and useful.

Extremely large Orion nuclear pulse type of spaceships can eventually be built at and launched from Lunar bases and should be considered as one of the many useful opportunities offered by the Moon. Such huge and super capable spaceships could explore everywhere in our Solar System, including the very useful Ceres and other asteroids.

As for effective shielding for high energy and dangerous Galactic Cosmic Rays there are lots of different options including:

“Graded-Z shielding is a laminate of several materials with different Z values (atomic numbers) designed to protect against ionizing radiation. Compared to single-material shielding, the same mass of graded-Z shielding has been shown to reduce electron penetration over 60%.[8] It is commonly used in satellite-based particle detectors, offering several benefits:

protection from radiation damage
reduction of background noise for detectors
lower mass compared to single-material shielding

Designs vary, but typically involve a gradient from high-Z (usually tantalum) through successively lower-Z elements such as tin, steel, and copper, usually ending with aluminium. Sometimes even lighter materials such as polypropylene or boron carbide are used. [9][10]

In a typical graded-Z shield, the high-Z layer effectively scatters protons and electrons. It also absorbs gamma rays, which produces X-ray fluorescence. Each subsequent layer absorbs the X-ray fluorescence of the previous material, eventually reducing the energy to a suitable level. Each decrease in energy produces bremsstrahlung and Auger electrons, which are below the detector’s energy threshold. Some designs also include an outer layer of aluminium, which may simply be the skin of the satellite.”

From: ‘Radiation protection’ Wikipedia
At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_protection#Interaction_of_radiation_with_shielding

For what it is worth the other internet billionaire with his own rocket company (Jeff Bezos – Blue Origin) is pushing exactly that “version of space colonization”.

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-space-colonies-oneill/

“China has now set its sights on development of the Long March-9, a super-heavy lift rocket in the class of the Apollo program’s Saturn V rocket. This powerful rocket likely remains about 15 years from its debut and is projected to have a payload-to-LEO capacity of at least 130 metric tons and a payload-to-LTO capacity of at least 50 metric tons.”

From: ‘China now has a rocket that can land taikonauts on the Moon’
By Eric Berger 11/9/2016
At: http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/11/china-now-has-a-rocket-that-can-land-taikonauts-on-the-moon/

“Half a century after the US and the USSR raced to the Moon, a Russian cosmonaut might make it to the moon on American hardware. She might find herself looking down at the lunar surface a few hundred miles below through the window of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Such an unexpected development could result from recent negotiations between NASA officials and their partners in the International Space Station.”

From: ‘Why NASA May Ferry the First Cosmonaut to the Moon
The big space agencies are planning their next project together—a human outpost that orbits the moon.’
By Anatoly Zak Nov 7, 2016
At: http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a23742/nasa-cosmonaut-moon-orion/

China is going to the Moon to tap its resources, and many other useful opportunities, and so is everyone else.

President Trump will focus on the business benefits of developing the Moon’s resources.

‘The times they are a changing.’

We humans, and our robots, need some Lunar Landers ASAP.

Do you have a link to a technical source detailing that assertion?

Saw (and referenced) the Musk Redditt interview where he said they test fired an engine, but no reference seemed to be made to any new alloy/alloys being involved; rather that the test “proved” no new materials were required. Sorry just do not buy that.

As far as “praising” SpaceX by saying NASA is doing even less in a practical sense to advance a possible Mars mission, you will get no argument here; but that is setting the bar excruciatingly low as NASA is doing virtually nothing at all. That was one of the points of the article.

Nobody is going anywhere Beyond Earth and Lunar Orbit (BELO) without 14 feet of water shielding which equates to a couple thousand tons for a bare minimum size long duration crew compartment. This figure provokes shock, outrage, and automatic denial, but cosmic radiation is what it is.

Guess what the only practical propulsion system for pushing such mass is?
I will give you a hint: it uses hydrogen bombs.
The only place to both acquire thousands of tons of water and assemble, test, and launch such a nuclear mission is the Moon. And…if you build such true spaceships then Mars becomes the destination to bypass in favor of the ocean moons of the gas giants.

In other words, Mars is a dead end.

Just as much a dead end as the soon-to-die-of-old-age space station to nowhere and Absurd Retrieval Mission. SpaceX might actually finally become involved in space exploration if they were to build robot lunar landers instead of hobby rockets. As it stands they are out of the human space flight business after blowing up twice- and the Air Force is not any more likely to risk a billion dollar spy satellite than NASA is going to get away with flying any of their people on a falcon.

“And that may slow or even halt SpaceX ‘s attempt.”

ITS tech is not all solved but SpaceX is making significant progress. A look at NASA’s progress and it shows that NASA’s tech studies have only minor progress toward a Mars mission capability. In fact the primary technology (hyper-sonic retro propulsion) for getting large payloads landed on Mars was done by SpaxeX not NASA.

SpaceX has laid out a program with schedules and tech goals. NASA has a wish list.

It is correct to say that it is not a forgone conclusion that SpaceX will send anything to Mars but they are actually designing hardware to do so, whether their design will actually work or not. Compared to everyone else which are still at the small probe level. SpaceX must gain experience with Mars. Something even countries have tried and failed at many times with few successes.

The primary obstacle to Mars has never been technology but funding. And that may slow or even halt SpaceX ‘s attempt.