In the latest fascinating news from our robotic minions on the red planet, Phoenix is in a sticky situation once again. It seems our little neighbor's asparagus-friendly soil is being uncooperative with the lander's attempts to analyze it; Phoenix is trying to shake and bake it, but try as it might it can't seem to get the frozen soil to come loose from the scoop. At least so far, we can be thankful that it hasn't been damaged in its attempts.

It's a bit funny really, that the (by NASA standards) dirt-cheap Spirit and Opportunity rovers have done so much for so long, and are still running... yet this latest lander, built on the experiences we've had with the rovers, can't seem to do much of anything right. At least we know there's water on Mars now, so how about we just get on with putting boots on the ground? I bet an astronaut would be a lot more skilled at digging holes and getting the mud to come off the shovel.