Better to spend the money on Mars exploration

than developing a weapon system to blow us there. How much do you reckon was spent on the Polaris missile system I maintained during the Cold War? And that was one of quite a few. Consider that one of the main reasons for the demise of the Soviet Union was they ran out of money through military spending before the USA.

Robotic space exploration is a bargain compared to manned missions. I'm happy the mission has been thus far successful.