As the technology keeps improving by leaps and bounds, I could easily see improving bandwidth communication 100 fold, and providing for long lived rovers. Digging and drilling much deeper coupled with some order of magnitude improvements in spectrometer and laboratory capabilities, what would we discover about mars? I dare say a lot more than some flag and footprints manned landings at a couple of "man safe" sites. As robots keep getting smarter, I don't see how the human emphasis side of the debate can maintain.

What I can't get about the lack a funding on the robotic side is that improving robot technology will be on the critical path for support of manned missions. We have to do it anyway, so it would actually be cheaper in the long run to more fully fund robotic developments at the expense of the so called "manned" mission side, to do manned missions.

When we finally do manned missions, let's do it right with bases already set up by robots, and a full complement of robotic tools ready to be teleoperated. And lets have some nice spaceships that have some artificial gravity with appropriate shielding so that we can transport more comfortably, naturally, and safely.