I’m afraid I can’t upvote this sentiment, Paul. I feel like we need to get you to, I don’t know, the Atacama? Utah, Kazakhstan, Western Australia? Nunavut, or the Dry Valleys? OK, all those places are a bit much on the oxygen and the humidity, and you wouldn’t be tasting the grit and dust in your mouth, but surely they could provide some respite to weary Martians? Dear planetary science community: remember the Paul Hammonds of this world as you work! We’re not mathematicians or pure theorists - planets fully engage the senses, and some people have been waiting a long time!

(TBH, I really go back and forth on the wisdom of sending astronauts ASAP, as certain incautious parties advocate. We should have done one sample return mission already - the easiest and arguably most relevant to astronaut safety was unwisely cancelled by NASA and has never been revisited, for reasons I can’t understand - and I long to get those cores from the Jezero basin back. I’d really give up a lot to have them, and I often think it’d be irresponsible to send people before we’ve assessed the toxicity of the regolith and dust. Still, the 1960s show me how important it is to have urgency, too. I’m assuming it was incredible fun to watch the entire lunar program evolve out of nothing, and even the Voyagers launched when they did to hit a deadline. I can’t imagine where this science would be without Apollo or Voyager!)