these budget cuts to nasa are minimal and over blown. My sister has worked at nasa many times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA
The budget has not decresed significantly, I think they should increase it for work on things like a space elevator (which since it would be used as transportation like roads would be better suited to be owned by a goverment then a private company) and the new carbon tech would be available for many to use, bringing in lighter more fuel efficient cars, and lowering the price of carbon fiber. Making colonies on places like mars would be difficult, we had air leaks in the biosphere 2 (now owned by U of A) so that would need some severe redesigns on air tightness to get working, and be light enough to transport to a place like mars "cheaply"
Also someone needs to invent the warp engion, where is our Zefram Cochrane?