A manned flyby? This mission may tell us something about enroute problems, but if it weren't for this limited role, it serves no purpose better served by robotic craft.

Tito could raise more money and garner more public support by planning a two-person, landing, suicide mission instead of looping around Mars and coming back. Consider that his present plan requires the craft to safely re-enter Earth's atmosphere and soft-land. The same could be accomplished on Mars with some modifications, but the latter would create a historical turning point, rather than an orbital turning point.