Comment by skeeter2020

>> Our Mars robots are awesome, but they take years to accomplish what astronauts could do in days.

What? The unmanned space program has been beyond the edges of our solar system. Meanwhile humans have been day tourists in space. I don't know how you can come to this conclusion that "humans > robots" when humans have never even been close to the surface of Mars.

>> Even just a tiny temporarily occupied Mars science outpost would be a tremendous boost to our understanding of the planet

How many robots could we land with the equivalent resources, or telescope satellites, or autonomous probes?