Have you heard about the Mars One project?

[Violet]

@Violet: My OCD requires me to point out that this is settlement, not exploration Tongue but yes, I agree.
Mars is the most heavily explored object in the Solar system besides Earth (and debatably the Moon). We've documented the hazards of space flight and Mars enough to make early American settlers envy. We know that, except in the unlikely case of a catastrophic solar flare or meteor strike, the trip and stay are very survivable. We've been growing food for millennia; we can obtain water and oxygen through centuries-old chemistry techniques. All of these have been researched/discussed/tested quite thoroughly over the past several decades. What is it you think we're not ready for?

We're exploring the possibility of settlement on another planet... not all exploration is of the foot and the ship. Not that it particularly matters though, the point being that it's dangerous remains regardless of what you call it.

I think that even if you landed five people for the first time on another planet with ample water-life resources, no breathing hazards, and no particularly dangerous diseases or creatures: the next set of five would probably arrive to a dead first set. Unfortunately, this is not a planet full of relevant resources, and there is a breathing hazard, and the atmosphere is not survivable without various protections. They leave with a limited amount of supplies, and this will not include multiple replacement parts of everything on board the vessel.

Not that I don't wish them the best of luck, but I also don't hold out much hope that they'll have any particular success (they may be the first to land on mars, they may not necessarily survive to tell us what it was like).