I see... makes.... a lot of...
Sooo.... In YOUR opinion are ships still falling off the edge of the earth or if there still insufficient data?
Let's stick to you writing down your opinion and I'll write down my opinion. No need for either of us to guess what the other is thinking.
After spending hundreds of millions of dollars designing the perfect vehicle to explore the environment on Mars, our first Mars rover landed, rolled 18" and got stuck against a rock, never to move again. So NASA designed the next one to overcome the rocks, which I guess they didn't plan on the first time. They simply built a rover much larger. And it only cost 30 times as much. What a bargain for tax payers. Now we have all sorts of information about the soil and rocks on Mars. Sound familiar? While I enjoyed Matt Damon's movie about his experience surviving on Mars, the reality is the money spent is needed badly here on this planet, where we all live. Save the science projects for when we do not have $19 trillion in debt and are at risk of losing Medicare and Medicaid and social security. When the economy collapses, will we be able to recover any of the money wasted by having a Mars rock sale? Doubt it. Federal spending is obscene. It should have been slashed decades ago. Politicians and voters seem to think spending $1.40 for every $1 taken in revenue will never result in any blow back. At least not on their watch. Maybe you and Newt Gingrich can share a beer and discuss the great need to colonize the moon. I'm more inclined doing the math and suggesting we are getting close to a financial crisis, requiring great austerity. That's my actual view, not your condescending flat earth comment.