Other than playing with the drone helicopter,
have we learned anything that means anything
for the betterment of humanity from these flights?
Nope, Mars is still a dead, frozen ball of rock with no magnetosphere, just like before.
“Other than playing with the drone helicopter,
have we learned anything that means anything
for the betterment of humanity from these flights?”
Have you heard of the Kitty Hawk and the Wright brothers? 100+ years later we’re on Mars. This helicopter represents the first powered flight on an alien planet. Lots of data is being gathered, air density, solar insolation, survivability, photovoltaic efficiency, etc. Assuming we don’t nuke ourselves, there will be aircraft on Mars capable of carrying humans.