This is good news [I'll also repeat my boring MER matra]
NIck said:
"...providing nobody lets NASA turn off working equipment, as happened with Viking."
I have been told the Vikings died due to operator error. However this could well be a lie.
At this point, I have to trot out my boring and repetitive matra:
Given the incredible success of MER, isn't it too bad that we're going to spend a billion dollars on MSL with the high probability that it'll auger-in due to Sky Crane? That billion dollars could be spent on many MER clones scattered across the near equatorial latitudes of Mars providing many years (a decade?) of basic planetary science valued by professional geologists.
There, I got that off my chest. Please go on with what ever you were doing and thanks for your attention.
Gary