Another major milestone for the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit: today is its 1000th “sol” (i.e., Martian day) of operation. The Martian day is slightly longer than a 24-hour Earth day, so that plucky little skateboard of science has actually been running for about 1028 of our days. Recall if you will that it was originally intended to function for only 90 sols. I think the taxpayers have gotten their money’s worth on this project.

The image above (which looks like a postcard from Southern Utah to me) is a 360-degree panoramic view of the hilltop where Spirit has been perched with its solar panels tilted toward the sun as it waits out the long Martian winter. As always, click the picture for a larger view. Details on the image as well as what Spirit has been up can be found in this press release, and a hi-rez version of the photo is here.