NASA's two Mars rovers - Spirit and Opportunity - were granted a stay of execution this week. The national space agency, in an effort to trim $4 million from it's budget, planned to pull the plug on the two rovers - partly in an effort to reroute money to fund a new, Hummer sized Mars explorer which is scheduled for deployment in 2009. The decision to spare Spirit and Opportunity should have been an easy one - the two rovers have generated a significant amount of public interest in the space program, and have made incredible scientific discoveries - proof that water once flowed on or near the Martian surface, for example. However, at a $20 million annual operating cost, the cord will eventually have to be cut on the twin rovers. Hopefully, someone will be smart enough to suggest allowing Spirit and Opportunity to continue their mission until the Mars Hummer is deemed fully operational.