> Before NASA sent their first drone to Mars they made a lot of predictions, a lot of tests, guessed a lot of things that may get wrong, etc. Do some of their missions still fail? Sure. But the amount of success is much much larger because they didn't just sent a drone there and watched what happened.
How much effort went into estimating Opportunity's lifetime at 90 days? How useful has that estimate proven to be?
That is cherry picking. Did you try to comprehend the post you are replying to? Take into account all of the estimations, not just one failed estimation.
Sure, take into account all the estimations. How much value have they delivered? Show me how NASA has got more science done than if they had "just sent a drone there and watched what happened". Because I don't believe they have.
How much effort went into estimating Opportunity's lifetime at 90 days? How useful has that estimate proven to be?