Interplanetary robotic tenacity

The Energizer Bunny has got nothing on the two Mars Rovers. NASA is giving a third extension to their mission team for up to another 18 months. Not that they don’t have some wear and tear to show for it: Spirit’s drilling tool is worn out and Opportunity’s thermal emission spectrometer is on the fritz. Still, incredible endurance for machinery designed for a 90 day mission. Even the Martian weather. seems to be helping the robotic explorers along. Maybe it’ll take a Martian showing up to take them away to turn them into coffee tables to end the mission. Still, it will take human minds onsite to give the level of flexibility of exploration necessary to come up with in-depth, practical knowledge of Mars.