Sometimes a post makes a much bigger point than its immediate context:

If there is any serious question about how to get samples back from Mars, there can be no serious plan to send people to Mars.

This article seems serious...

Many proposals on sending people to Mars seem to (deliberately?) sidestep the question of coming back. Often they quietly assume that they simply won't come back.

Sounds like a reasonable assumption given the length and danger of the trip. I’d assume the first colonists to sail across the Atlantic operated under a similar set of assumptions.

Yes.

Expect downvotes for claiming that we can't realistically get to Mars on any realistic schedule.