“What a waste of opportunity! Why don't they drill down to extract soil deep beneath the top layer to examine it under a microscope for possible life forms and its mineral composition. This would add to the findings of the Curiosity rover. It would be great if they found gold in that soil or lithium for lithium ion batteries to be used for manned exploration.”
All they need to do is fire a small missile from orbit with an explosive warhead and then send a rover to analyze the ejects from the crater. The nerd idiots are probably afraid of being accused of “declaring war on Mars!“.