Sawyer, It doesn't follow that because we discussed something and that you had the last word at that time that we resolved the discussion in your favor.

The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa may or may not have successfully collected a sample. We will not know till it returns to Earth.

I don't intend to go around in circles again with you. I believe (reasonably) that humans want to watch humans perform activities on Mars and other planetary surfaces. Robots serve a purpose as precursors and as aids they do not serve instead of humans period. Spaceflight of any kind costs money and will always cost money. Improvements in launch costs are always desirable but not the only thing that makes the costs high. Radiation and other hazards are certainly issues but can be managed with knowledge and engineering.

If anything we need a LDEF like robotic mission to Mars to test those materials and procedures we have studied here in analog to see what works bests for human missions to Mars. This is a non returning mission testing in situ over a sample return which would cost several billion dollars at least and require heavy quarantine.