So the underlining premise is that we can't just explore for the sake of exploring because nobody's going to pay for it.
We have to colonize just like we did hundreds of years ago because in order to get the kings, well the CEOs now but they're basically the same thing, to fund the whole thing we need to offer them the possibility of a reward. A payoff for them.
I suppose we could fundamentally reorganize our entire civilization so that we did not need the blessings of kings to do cool stuff but I think we are nowheres near ready for that.