I received my first copy of the Planetary Society's newsletter indicating that they have indeed given me my complimentary membership for being one of the first people to solve the encoded message on MER-A. They posted the list of winners here.

If only I hadn't gone to lunch in the middle of my code-breaking work, I'd have been faster than #8. Also, I was out of town when they released the MER-B cypher. It was much more simple, and only took me a few minutes to solve. I probably would have been competitive there as well. Oh well. :)

I haven't receieved my Lego prize yet, but I suspect it is one of their $70 models of the Mars rovers. I'm excited.