> It would be impossible for the govt to allocate this much capital towards such a moonshot...

You have a false definition of "impossible." It would be true to say it could be challenging, given current political dysfunction, but it's not impossible.

> ...and even if they could, they would do it in a way that would get 90% frittered away to fraud and waste

Same with private business.

I'd prefer government funding, because there a greater number of important goals than the two or three the market is capable of optimizing for.