We are exploring. We no longer need humans to explore. I’m sure humans will eventually explore Mars, but we’re nowhere near ready for that. And likely won’t be in our lifetime.

If we can’t even return rocks from Mars, how are we ever getting a person back? It’s not even a given that we could get a human to Mars alive.

If people with your mindset were in charge, I think we would get there sooner, but there would be many lives lost and untold money wasted first. For what? To plant a flag?