I started the class late. The teacher said I would have to learn as much in half a year that the others learned in a year. I did it.
Money was never the motivation. It never should be in sports.
Our government is the potent the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it...
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.