This game currently allows a group to infiltrate another, and cause various kinds of excitement and/or drama.
In other words OP, Frontier is right, and you, are not.
Deep space Exploration is one of safest activities in the game in any mode on a daily basis, yet it also carries the most risk when it comes to loss, and the longer you are out there, the greater the risk becomes. I would say then, that if the long-term risk were to be reduced, then the daily risk would need to be increased.
I am not so sure that Explorers would actually back such a thing, to be honest. They talk about wanting Environmental hazards, but most of them would be putting in support tickets if they got *ganked* by an electrical storm 3 months (or even days, to be honest) into an Expedition.
The real problem, OP, is the loss of data, which is actually a direct loss of time. No other activity in the game has the kind of potential time loss that deep space Exploration does, which makes consequences (read: better experiences) problematic. Frontier needs to solve this problem in a way that involves consequence that isn't completely demoralizing.
They have two good options - the upcoming Carriers providing an Explorer and/or Expedition with a place to sell data and a save point, or the various black box retrieval ideas.
Either one will solve the problem.
Riôt