You may be aware that NASA is one of the federal agencies being affected by the government shutdown; 18,000 workers, 97% of NASA’s employees, will not be reporting to work until Congress works out a solution. But perhaps the most notable furlough isn’t even a human: the Curiosity rover, all the way up on Mars, has temporarily stopped in its tracks.
As PopSci points out, yes, this is the same Curiosity that discovered water on Mars’s surface just a week ago. Perhaps the little guy shares the Voyager 2’s sentiments:
Due to government shutdown, we will not be posting or responding from this account. Farewell, humans. Sort it out yourselves.
— NASAVoyager2 (@NASAVoyager2) October 1, 2013
