I think they are planning to use all those nuclear weapons that seem to be the current currency to blow the supposed ice core of a planet at least five years out into the frozen depths of space (five years of space radiation on human tissue does wut) to test technology they cannot test anywhere else unless they send robots when there will no longer be people to supervise them when they get anywhere, because they cannot face the reality of dealing with a population that will eat their government if told to stop breeding (haaay China).