The high praise and giddy elation resulting from this week's successful landing of the Mars rover, which had been powered by a new battery designed and built at Pawcatuck's Yardney Technical Products, comes with a less-lofty afterthought: The company is in the middle of moving across the state border to new headquarters in East Greenwich, R.I.

When efforts to keep Yardney in Connecticut with incentives to upgrade its old factory stalled, Rhode Island lured away the private company and its 150 employees with a multi-million-dollar financing package.

Too bad all those bright Yardney engineers now will be working in the Ocean State, and too bad Connecticut won't be getting more taxes from the old building off Mechanic Street.

On Monday, Yardney employees gathered around a large cake to celebrate NASA's landing of the rover, Curiosity.

Yardney batteries provided the power to deploy a supersonic parachute system and heat shields used during the landing process, and allowed Curiosity to send the first photos back from Mars.

Doubtless, Rhode Island will have a similar celebration to welcome Yardney once its move is complete.

Connecticut, we have a problem.