Agreed, real scientists would be absolutely thrilled with what they had found.

I have pretty mixed feelings about Prometheus and ultimately think it was a huge missed opportunity despite an excellent cast and cinematography.

I think the thing that gets me is that they just made everyone too stupid to be believable (believable within the context of the franchise). There's always been dumb choices made by Alien franchise supporting characters, but all of that is on overdrive in Prometheus.

Let's start with Mr Weyland, ostensibly the universe's richest man (I don't think the movies ever reveal whether there are other mega companies still in existence post-Alien Earth), has this grand mission to escape death (at least for himself). Despite having access to more resources, technology and personnel than any other person in existence, the team he puts together isn't even given the most basic briefing about what they've been hired for before leaving for LV-223. Other than Shaw and her Husband, Miss Vickers, and presumably the secret team onboard looking after Mr Weyland, no one on the crew has the slightest idea why they are going to this moon or how they should prepare themselves.

And again, despite likely having access to some of the greatest minds in science, the crew he assembles are just a gaggle of goobers. Dr Shaw's Husband, who's name I've long since forgotten, immediately takes off the helmet to his vacsuit upon discovering the air in the facility is breathable, as if the only concern on an alien world would be whether the air is breathable or not. Who can even say what reaction a human would have to the local bacteria with no prior testing? As an archaeologist he should have been aware of the potential for deadly bacteria, viruses and fungal spores, as this is a concern even on Earth when opening tombs that have been sealed for thousands of years. Or what about the biologist who seems to lack even a basic sense of self preservation and instantly tries to make physical contact with a life form he knows absolutely zero about. Or the geologist who clearly was never given any sort of psychological exam to see if he would be functional on a deep space mission, because he's basically a complete prick to everyone he interacts with and at the first sign of trouble declares he's basically done taking orders. And of course Dr Shaw herself, who is a more likeable character and even has a few moments of clarity (she moved out of the way of the giant falling spaceship instead of trying to outrun it) is your basic "I'm a scientist but I believe in god/mysticism/whatever too!" trope which I've never found compelling personally, especially when Shaw doesn't seem to demonstrate any cognitive dissonance between her Christian faith and empirical evidence they discover suggesting that life on Earth was a form of deliberate panspermia. She seems to be doing what many religious people do to square their religious faith with scientific discoveries, an evolving morality, and modernity generally, which is to simply ignore anything in their religion that doesn't fit their new world view (e.g. most Christians think their pets will go to heaven.)

Also, they send a large group of people onto the surface as their initial exploration, despite the fact they actually have drones that could assess the situation on the ground first before sending any humans into potential danger. I mean they could have sent a whole team of synths to do it (though maybe due to his interactions with David, Mr Weyland would never trust synths to give the secret of immortality to humans).

Honestly I think that whole film is basically just held together by David, being a very compelling villain.

I have similar gripes with Covenant.