I read that too Tom.
An interesting thought struck me:
Should they be allowed to go? It's a form of suicide after all, isn't it? Or do they actually expect to live a long time?
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know..."rights". But seriously....if you know that A) they'll go crazy and B) you can't help them from here with any problems C) They won't live long D) we won't learn much more than what we can with rovers...
Should we send them off with a big "Hurrah!" to their doom? Isn't that a bit morbid? This isn't a moon walk.
Besides, there's plenty of dust and crazy right here.
If they have a chance of surviving and returning, that's totally different.