Please be kidding about this, NASA

How often do you land a working mobile scientific robot on another planet?

Hmm... I said another planet.  The Moon doesn't count.  So, if we count little Sojourner on Mars, I count 1... 2... 3... 4.   That's it, 4.

Two of those four are still working, still gathering data, still providing views with every few meters that are a new perspective that has NEVER been seen before.  Ever.

And now, due to budgetary pressure, NASA is suggesting that they'll shut down the longevity hero Opportunity in a year or so.

To put it very simply:  THAT'S NUTS.

Now, I bet they are all hoping that Oppy is going to shut down by itself sooner than that, so that the decision gets taken out of their hands.  And that might happen.  But it might not.

So seriously, how could anyone shut down a massively unique scientific platform like a moving, inquiring robot on Mars until it is totally and utterly done?

I'm hoping that this is a shot across the bow to get the attention of Congress that this is crazy.  But this is a Congress that first passed and then lived with the sequester, and some Republican nutcases actually like it.  So nothing is certain.  But a working robot on another planet?  C'mon.  It is the height of poor decision-making to make an awful decision like that.

Don't do it, NASA.  Shuffle some money around, find a more efficient way to manage Oppy's activities, but let it go as long as it is able.

Is Mars rover Opportunity facing the axe? Nasa plans to cease funding of the 10-year-old probe in 2015 budget proposal 

Opportunity looks into Endeavour Crater

Are we really going to stop this while it's still working?