I still cannot fathom how anyone thinks it is a good idea not to do these things with another person before marrying them. My wife and I were both adamant that we live together and go on trips together and do “married” things long before we made that decision. I like to think we ironed out many of the early kinks without the pressure of “we’re married so this absolutely has to work” lingering over us.
We should do both! A human being can do more science in a handful of days than all of our robots we’ve ever sent to Mars have done in the years they have been there.