My Astro Photo Of The Day

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

The only real obstacle to intensive human exploration of either Mars or the Moon is public opinion, since that is where the funding comes from. I'm afraid that a lot of people don't share such visions. On the other hand, I've always held such visions to be of paramount importance for our future as a species. But that's just me.

That's partially true but much of it has a lot to do with available technology as well.
Think about it - it still takes billions of dollars (or many hundreds of millions at the very very cheapest) to send things into orbit and there are a great many technologies that can very quickly make things much easier that aren't quite pratical yet.

Carbon Nanotubes, being the miracle material that they are, can pave the way for space elevators but mass production of those things isn't available and it's one of those things that's being heavily researched right now because of all of its possible applications.
There are others too that haven't been green-lit by NASA because of funding issues (coming back to public opinion) but it's still an expensive process just to enter orbit, not to mention any other large-scale projects (such as that required for a permanent human settlement of any kind on either celestial body).

The worldwide recession has also gimped just about every space agency in the world - ours especially and even worse since the last shuttle in our small fleet is now out of commission.

But ultimately, only two things are going to get a human settlement - a research station that functions like the ISS or any of the research outposts in the antartic in terms of purpose. The other thing is when the technology to enter space becomes cheaper by a factor of about 10~100 and private businesses can lead expeditions into space for the purpose of resource exploitation - and - just like in the 1500s and 1600s, people will follow the jobs, more jobs will follow the people, and governments can make permanent establishments following all that.
I think the latter has the best chance of making the kinds of settlements you hear about in science fiction or perhaps some intermediate between the two - but the biggest restriction actually relies much more heavily on technology, I think, than how much money we're giving NASA (which isn't enough in my opinion and it's a budget they just keep cutting, but despite being in the country hit the hardest by recession, most of their programs and future plans remain intact, except perhaps the most important ones. Yet, you and I have to admit, this is only a temporary setback and only because of the times.)
Think about it - we already live in a day and age when a private business managed to create a spacecraft capable of touching the edge of space for a very comparatively cheap price compared to the standard NASA shuttle launch.

So I remain somewhat optimistic. All we need to do is wait for Zephram Cochrine to do his thing (or other decent technological advancements in terms of space travel) and we'll be set for the kind of future I'd like to see. Sadly, it just means I may have less of a chance of seeing this future in my lifetime, but then again, I still have maybe 50 years to see things happen.

EDIT: Also, our success on the moon will depend heavily on the proximity and influence of Dracula's hidden moon castle and the Secret Nazi Moon Base.