IMHO most countries could still accomplish this. There’s just no political will for it. Mars is worthless to most people before terraforming, and now we need to terraform Earth first. How can we expect to fix Mars if we can’t stop ruining Earth?
There’s that, but also, looking at the sort of people pushing hardest for establishing Martian colonies, they are all the sort of folks who would tell you how you can be advancing humanity on another planet, then deduct the cost of your oxygen consumption from your paycheck, if not just cutting off the air supply if you happen to get a little uppity about “muh human rights” when they want you to work 16 hours a day for some dumb idea they had.
2040 even sounds ridiculous.
IMHO most countries could still accomplish this. There’s just no political will for it. Mars is worthless to most people before terraforming, and now we need to terraform Earth first. How can we expect to fix Mars if we can’t stop ruining Earth?
There’s that, but also, looking at the sort of people pushing hardest for establishing Martian colonies, they are all the sort of folks who would tell you how you can be advancing humanity on another planet, then deduct the cost of your oxygen consumption from your paycheck, if not just cutting off the air supply if you happen to get a little uppity about “muh human rights” when they want you to work 16 hours a day for some dumb idea they had.