Why drag back those heavy rocks all that way when we can analyze them there. We could be roving around to interesting sites, taking thin sections, actually identifying the minerals with a polarizing microscope(instead of guessing, er, I mean "deconvoluting"), and checking for life with a SEM and GC-MS. That would cost less and give tons more information. This rover data is great, but the microscope blows, and there is no substitute for crossed polarized crystal identification. What geology mission is complete without that? The dust that the rat grinds would be great on a slide. Too bad that they didn't include just the 2 polarizers and an illuminator to go with their microscope. The light and first polarizer could have been on the rover body, and the microscope with a second polar could have done the analysis at night. UV illumination should be included too - maybe Mars bugs fluoresce.