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Sometimes a post makes a much bigger point than its immediate context:

If there is any serious question about how to get samples back from Mars, there can be no serious plan to send people to Mars.

This article seems serious...

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Many proposals on sending people to Mars seem to (deliberately?) sidestep the question of coming back. Often they quietly assume that they simply won't come back.

Sounds like a reasonable assumption given the length and danger of the trip. I’d assume the first colonists to sail across the Atlantic operated under a similar set of assumptions.

Yes.

Expect downvotes for claiming that we can't realistically get to Mars on any realistic schedule.

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