@cstross in fairness if we're going to do mad things like go to mars we're going to need to do it in something that earns the name of "ship”, not the barely-afloat row-boats we've been using so far. like we needed ships to get across the oceans, notwithstanding the odd nutter in a rowboat (with GPS and satellite radio and rescue services on-hand).
wait and go big, as @ZachWeinersmith & Kelly say…