Now you're acting like the geologist on Mars doesn't have a radio to talk to all his colleagues back on Earth. Yes, NASA has made mission changes post-launch,

Now you're acting like the geologist on Mars doesn't have a radio to talk to all his colleagues back on Earth. Yes, NASA has made mission changes post-launch, but these are usually simple changes, consisting basically of single orders to redirect the craft along a new trajectory. A human walking around looking at rocks makes those decisions on a second-by-second basis.