There are two robots currently on the surface of Mars under the guidance of scientists at NASA. They are both four years old, and have been doing a wonderful job of exploring the red planet and performing research for the scientists back on terra firma. They are both still fully functional and have plenty of “life” still in them.
Sadly, budget cuts means one of these Mars rovers, Spirit, is to be put to sleep and the other will have reduced duties. While the US government spends the amount required to keep this research alive for a year every week in Iraq, NASA are forced to reduce funding. It costs $20 million per year to keep the rovers running, a pitiful amount compared to US defense budgets, but the US government are too busy killing people to be interested in science (unless the science helps with the killing people).
The team are planning an appeal against the cuts; I hope somebody listens.