1 {scene: NASA Mars Rover mission control room}
1 NASA Guy 1: It's amazing. We planned these Mars rovers to last 90 days, and they're both operating well at over 250 days!
2 NASA Guy 2: Yep, and especially after so many previous Mars probes have crashed, or vanished, or stopped working for no apparent reason.
3 NASA Guy 2: It looks like someone up there is finally on our side.
4 {scene change: Surface of Mars. Two Martians stand near a Mars Rover.}
4 Martian 1: C'mon, you said you'd have this annoying thing switched off 6 months ago!
4 Martian 2: {wielding a spanner ineffectually} I'm trying!!

The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still out there on Mars, puttering away faithfully and exceeding NASA's stated mission goals every single day. It's been a fantastically successful misson so far, and looks to continue being so for some time to come.

The background in panel 4 is an image of a rock outcrop near the top of the Columbia Hills on Mars, taken on 5 August, 2004,by the rover Spirit as it travelled over 3 km from its landing site at Gusev Crater. The full image and a list of panoramas by Spirit are available from NASA's web site.