The media is always keen on every new "omg, there was once water on Mars" discovery, but we've moved on to trying to figure out the details; where, when, how much, where did it go?

Be careful with language like that. Sloppy journalists might turn that into a "we need to balance both sides of the story" and we'll wind up with people denying the existence of water on Earth.

That said, I'm impressed at Opportunity - this rover is just as sturdy as the Voyagers - I hope Curiosity is just as well built and lands safely...

Opportunity is far more impressive than Voyager. Voyager has basically been sitting in a nice clean vacuum doing nothing for the past thirty-five years, it's no wonder it's still working. Opportunity has been hard-scrabbling around in sandy, dusty environments, heating up in the day and cooling down at night, with dozens of joints and moving parts waving around all day.