Or maybe FD want to retain an element of risk in exploration.
There should always be risk. But if there is to be a rescue, it should be a player-initiated and completed one, not a "hand of god" solution.
As such we need the tools in-game to do so.
Only because the tools are available doesn't mean there's never going to be any risk. If a Commander gets stranded they'll still require some community members to come rescue them. Depending on where they are and how far they pushed that may not be possible (ie, a ship optimised for extreme range vs one which needs to carry the required rescue equipment).
Most explorers actually want -more- risk for exploration, but it should be somewhat mitigated by more options too. For example, if the risk of dying while exploring goes from 1% to 50% then there should be additional mechanisms in place to guard your investment (real time) such as time-limited data caches on ship destruction or something.
No other activity in the game can lead to the same losses (of real time) as death during exploration. A hold full of Void Opals is an afternoon, a hold full of exploration data could easily be 6 months or more.