[wjersey]

Sorry to hear

[1rudeboy]

You know, I'll be sad when the inevitable occurs. I've grown attached to them.

[Doogle]

obviously..FIRESTONE


Doogle

[USNBandit]

I would have loved to have been in the room the first time the engineers pitched the airbag landing.

[Echo Talon]

can't expect them to last forever. They did a good job on these rovers.

[ChadGore]

I think they will get another year.

[LdSentinal]

I'm surprised it lasted this long considering it was built by GM UAW workers.

[Spruce]

The folk that designed and built these machines should be very proud of their work. These little guys have far-exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.

[cripplecreek]

I've been visiting the rover site for new pics every day for nearly the whole time.

[aBootes]

Hopefully we'll be able to send a mission along in a few years and bring 'em back for the Smithsonian.

[DoughtyOne]

These rovers are one of the things NASA has gotten right over the years. I hate to see one of them beginning to fail, but my what a great performance.

[TC Rider]

Bush's fault (sorry, had to be the first)

Now Sheila Jackson may never see the American flag left on Mars by the Apollo astronauts.

[Dallas59]

Some of the best money NASA ever spent...I wonder if this is where we are going to set down at when we go to Mars?

[NordP]

Awwwwh man.... I'm gonna have flashbacks to Duey, Huey, and Louie

in "Silent Running." Say it isn't so!

[Dallas59]

'Gibson' Panorama by Spirit at 'Home Plate' Mars



NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired this high-resolution view of intricately layered exposures of rock while parked on the northwest edge of the bright, semi-circular feature known as "Home Plate." The rover was perched at a 27-degree upward tilt while creating the panorama, resulting in the "U" shape of the mosaic. In reality, the features along the 1-meter to 2-meter (3-foot to 6-foot) vertical exposure of the rim of Home Plate in this vicinity are relatively level. Rocks near the rover in this view, known as the "Gibson" panorama, include "Barnhill," "Rogan," and "Mackey."

Payson' Panorama by Opportunity



The panoramic camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity acquired this panorama of the "Payson" outcrop on the western edge of "Erebus" Crater during Opportunity's sol 744 (Feb. 26, 2006). From this vicinity at the northern end of the outcrop, layered rocks are observed in the crater wall, which is about 1 meters (3.3 feet) thick. The view also shows rocks disrupted by the crater-forming impact event and subjected to erosion over time.

[DallasMike]

This is simply some of the most amazing science that has ever been done.

Stingray:  Conservative Christian News and Commentary

[Phsstpok]

May I highlight the imporatnt portion of this story: 

Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of the Red Planet in January 2004 and have long outlasted missions originally planned to span 90 Martian days, which are a different length than Earth days.

Spirit's new wheel problem occurred this week during the rover's 779th Martian day.

And then, may I point you to the story that contains this little tid bit.  James Cameron (Terminator, T2, Alien 2, etc.) is working on an extreme high definition stereo digital camera and he gave an interview about how he's going to use it in his next couple of movies, including this little side project:

Well, one of the side projects that he’s doing is working in conjunction with the MALIN SPACE SCIENCE SERVICES group… those are the guys that developed the M.O.C. Global Surveyor that’s been mapping Mars for the last couple of years. That’s completely changed everyone’s belief of what MARS is. Well, the next big NASA mission is going to have a Live Video Stereo Motion Image device that Cameron has been developing with M.S.S.S. to bring us back live 3D video images in full motion from the surface of Mars… all tied to the back of one of those nuclear powered Rovers that’ll be exploring, if all goes well, for years. See… Evangelical Techno-Fetishist.

 I think we have some worthy successors to "the little rovers that could" in the pipeline, so long as the Kennedys, Jacksons and successors to Proxmire don't have their way with the NASA budget. 

We will get to the stars with folks like Burt Rutan leading private enterprise on to find a profit, but we will learn about what we face thanks to underpaid techs at Langley, Huntsville and all of the other NASA centers out there.

[spanalot]

BRUSH'S FAULT!

[Lockbar]

[annie laurie]

Ping

[Jeff Gordon]

It is out of warranty.