Mission to Geek Redux

Like the Energizer Bunny.

Pasadena, California (AP. September 22) - NASA thinks its Mars rovers just might keep going and going and going.

The space agency has funded another extension of their mission, for an additional six months, if they last.

The latest funding came as NASA regained reliable contact with the rovers Spirit and Opportunity after a 12-day period in which Mars passed nearly behind the sun, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

The rovers, which have found evidence of past water activity on the Red Planet, landed on opposite sides of Mars in January and completed their primary, three-month missions on the surface in April.

What's great about something like this is that it means being able to go for the littler things, the subtler things, even the riskier things, all the things you didn't dare do on the primary mission for lack of time and for caution about the equipment. The longer they go, the more, if you will, daring their missions can become. And that could generate some really interesting science.