Oh no! Spirit, one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers, has a bum wheel, and now has to use its five other wheels to drag itself to a position where it can gather enough sunshine to continue doing its thing through the coming Martian winter. Of course, today was day number 779 of what was planned to be a 90-day mission — meaning that the folks at NASA are rapidly approaching the point of a 900% return on their investment with the Rovers.

(Yep, I freely admit to anthropomorphizing the two little guys toodling around on the surface of the red planet… which means that right now, I’m envisioning Spirit dragging a bum leg behind it, or at least limping around with a walker. Get well soon, buddy!)