In article 36e42f8f-c48b-4bd7-9fa9-
, says...
Selected during 2.5 hours of EVA time. And for much more money.

Using people as biorobots is hideously expensive since you need to keep
them breathing and drinking and eating and comfortable during years of
no science being done at all.

plus the humans exhausts, like defecation, urine, bacteria, etc etc
will contaminate the samples you are trying to collect

On Apollo missions they weren't, you ignorant git! The Apollo lunar
samples were sealed inside vacuum tight sample containers that contained
*triple* redundant seals. They were definitely *not* open when the LEM
was re-pressurized.

ALSRC, Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container, Apollo 11
http://airandspace.si.edu/events/apo...oartifact.cfm?
id=A19710814000

If we did such a good job on Apollo missions trying to prevent any sort
of cross-contamination of samples, why do you think that Mars would be
any different?

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer