Presence

Looks like we lost another one to those pesky Martian punks. Why can't they just leave us alone and let us conduct our research?

I think its obvious that the real reason we're heading out that way is to put the hurt on these uncouth rapscallions. That's what you get!

In all seriousness, how hard could it possibly be to build a simple little interplanetary exploration robot, ship it to a neighboring planet, and do a few lousy experiments? What are we paying you people for?