The emphasis, once again, is getting the cart-rider before the horse or the cart.
Just a few weeks ago, influentials (which I can't name, so you can take this for the anonymous and unaccountable observation it has to be) in the planning stages of the Mars venture are hopelessly focused on "what we'll do when our guy is on the planet." Hoo boy. There's this thing called "air" we need, first. Not to mention that awful deal-breaker "home again, home again, riggedy jig."
A long way from what we'll do when we get there.
I agree with you completely!
IMHO, Manned Mars is the last place we should be focusing our money on. The infrastructure is just not up to par yet. Robotic missions are still the best method of exploring anything outside of cislunar.
I don't know... I figure the way to plan this thing is to figure out, first, how to get the crew back to the green hills. Second, what do we want them to do while they're there? Third, what do we need to send to accomplish 1 and 2? Fourth, how do we ship all that stuff to Mars?