First manned trips to Mars may not land

It is apparently very hard to land people on Mars. Too much gravity, not enough atmosphere. We may go and send robots to the surface, controlling them from Mars orbit. [Link]

When the first humans travel to Mars, the journey will be dangerous. Perhaps the most dangerous part will be the landing; the thin Martian atmosphere makes it extremely difficult to slow down a heavy spacecraft carrying humans. To minimize the danger, the first missions to Mars might not have people land on the surface at all. Instead, they might orbit the Red Planet, and control virtual robots working down below. Just imagine how much science Martian rovers controlled by humans could get done, all from the safety of orbit - at a fraction of the cost of actually setting foot on the planet.