I don't remember where I read it, but somebody wrote that a geologist with a hammer could do more science in an afternoon than all our mars probes have done combined. Its hard to do science with a rc car, even if said car is cutting edge.
That’s true. Look at how many time SG-1 got into an issue even with the MALP. That’s with a much quicker wireless connection too.
Sounds like a great opportunity to rewatch one of my all time favorite episodes, "Revisions" (s07e05)
Humans can also take on new research objectives on the fly while rovers/probes can only ever do what they were designed to. The difference in flexibility, capability, and speed are vast.
What if we send a humanoid drone next?
Give it a sufficiently advanced AI, and that might work.
Current AI isn’t ready for that yet, though. What’s available to us couldn’t even be effectively used for research on Earth’s out-of-reach places, much less on Mars. In some years, however… That would be curious.
Is it possible to fly on such a thin atmosphere? Doubt it.