ETA: Okay, ninjaed by Fnord, who has a point.
However...
There are at least two reasons for a Mundane government or individual to be extremely interested in what happens in space. First, every single Rock is a potential extinction event, and so on. The Fen, if they decided to become such, are to the point where they could present any Earthside government with serious problems. In short, there's dangerous shit in space. Second, what's true now may not neccessarily be so in the future, that is, there are big investment opportunities in space, ones that, from what's been seen of them so far, just might pay off within the lifetimes of those now living - if not the investor's, then his kids'. I mean, two planets worth of real estate.
That said, will Mundane governments or individuals be shelling out a major portion of their yearly budget on space stuff? No. They have much bigger fish to fry in the mean time... but even a couple cents on the dollar salted away or invested towards the terraforming projects adds up to a lot when you're talking about numbers the size of the Mundane world, and it's not as though a lot of their other interests can't also be used to forward their agenda in space. After all, that tech that NASA's got such a huge damn budget for reverse engineering has to get tested...
A horse might not think about flicking its tail, but the flies on its back sure as hell notice.
Ja, -n
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"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"
However...
There are at least two reasons for a Mundane government or individual to be extremely interested in what happens in space. First, every single Rock is a potential extinction event, and so on. The Fen, if they decided to become such, are to the point where they could present any Earthside government with serious problems. In short, there's dangerous shit in space. Second, what's true now may not neccessarily be so in the future, that is, there are big investment opportunities in space, ones that, from what's been seen of them so far, just might pay off within the lifetimes of those now living - if not the investor's, then his kids'. I mean, two planets worth of real estate.
That said, will Mundane governments or individuals be shelling out a major portion of their yearly budget on space stuff? No. They have much bigger fish to fry in the mean time... but even a couple cents on the dollar salted away or invested towards the terraforming projects adds up to a lot when you're talking about numbers the size of the Mundane world, and it's not as though a lot of their other interests can't also be used to forward their agenda in space. After all, that tech that NASA's got such a huge damn budget for reverse engineering has to get tested...
A horse might not think about flicking its tail, but the flies on its back sure as hell notice.
Ja, -n
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"