You get the causality wrong.
Let me explain:
One idea of Nxt was, theoretically, to be able to handle 1000TPS. To dethrone VISA maybe with their bullshit high fees. Some small shop owners lose 50% of there marge today because of VISA. Think about it.
Now, Nxt is the saviour. If we want to get to the Mars/Moon, there needs to be something like "well, no problem, we can easily handle 1000TPS in the future if we want. Just some coding and done". <- This maybe leads to 1000 TPS in the future -> to the mars in the future. Not the other way around.
btw visa handles 2000 TPS on average I believe.
My thinking is clear on this....why?
1) 70% of the world doesn't use VISA but they use MONEY.
2) 70% of the world will have a smartphone by 2015.
3) Smartphone processing speed and storage work to Moore's law.
The above point should give the proper perspective.