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ASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
This self-portrait of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines dozens of images taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager on Feb. 3. The portrait was taken at the rock target "John Klein," where the rover collected the first ever bedrock sample of Mars using its drill on Feb. 8.
By Clara Moskowitz
Space.com
A computer glitch on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has forced the robot to switch to a backup computer while engineers try to fix the problem.
The issue cropped up Wednesday, when the spacecraft failed to send its recorded data back to Earth and did not switch into its daily sleep mode as planned. After looking into the issue, engineers decided to switch the Curiosity rover from its primary "A-side" computer to its "B-side" backup on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. EST, which put the rover into a minimal-activity state known as "safe mode."
"Don't flip out: I just flipped over to my B-side computer while the team looks into an A-side memory issue," NASA officials wrote on behalf of the rover via Curiosity's Twitter feed.
Curiosity's science work has been on hold since Wednesday, while the mission management team tries to resolve the issue. Officials say the rover is functioning fine on its backup computer, though, and should be switching from safe mode to operational status in the coming days. [Curiosity Rover's Latest Amazing Mars Photos]
"We switched computers to get to a standard state from which to begin restoring routine operations," Richard Cook, Curiosity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.
The computer problem is thought to be related to a glitch in flash memory on the A-side computer, which may have had some corrupted memory files.
Once Curiosity is up and running again, the rover should have no problem using its B-side computer as its primary computer for a while, officials said. As standard protocol, Curiosity, like many spacecraft, has redundant main computer systems as a safety precaution for just this type of anomaly.
"While we are resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup," said JPL engineer Magdy Bareh, leader of the mission's anomaly resolution team.
The $2.5 million rover, the centerpiece of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, launched in November 2011, and landed inside Mars' Gale Crater in August 2012. The rover is exploring Mars, searching for signs that the Red Planet may once have been habitable to microbial life. While originally slated for a two-year stint, the rover's mission has been extended indefinitely.
Recently, Curiosity has been analyzing rock samples collected using its onboard drill. It's the first time experiments have been conducted on powder from the interior of Martian rocks.
You can follow Space.com Assistant Managing Editor Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+. This story was originally published at Space.com.
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Come on boys and girls,,,, do your stuff!
Must be using a Windows operating system
$2.5 Million, or $2.5 BILLION?
*Bluescreen*
F8 F8 F8!
Does this archaic AB(C) backup system mean the DOD will reconsider my research bid for a fault tolerant Thread Heap Object Resource (THOR) computer development bid?
Oh...probably not, -morbas(i)-
All this $$ spent and its already got problems. Hopefully the big brains can fix the issue. I was hoping this machine would last at least as long as Spirit/Opportunity..
"Issues" are unavoidable. Nobody could possibly expect a major Mars mission without any problems. Considering that they had backup systems ready for problems like this, I'd say that was $$ well-spent.
aw, dos 5.1....hmmm whats this, oh yea I remember, file manager, hmmm, yea that script might work twitter obj on a weird gui, ok let's give it a try: Don't flip out: I just flipped over to my B-side computer while the team looks into an A-side memory issue. hope they got that. If they think I'm going to correlate 38 cameras, sink 18 science device data source's, maintain 7 open comm links keep up the RTOS AI and move 125 friggen servo motors, let alone keep a chunk of hot rock cooled below gettin T on this darned 16 bit os thar friggen crazy....HEY, I want my windows 8!!, I want my netflicks!! wheres my facebook! wheres the darned you tube and hulu!!! darned it, christ this is almost as bad as that darned buntu distro they had on here two years ago..bang,bang,bang.(arm flails around)..I want my windows eight!! darned it....I was right in the middle of series three lost in space, you know that netflix crack won't work forever!!....hmmm...ohhhh, an NT frankenbuild over here on the chem data base! cool, ah, pc linux left on this smart card,saved by zero!!way to go earl!!!......hmmm, first we gotta lock em out, close ports ALL, good for a start, now we need some tools, ah, this qbasic will work for a scripter, let's get started (hours later)...oh, it's that guy with the hair, I guess he thinks he's gettin in, we'll let him move the mastcam around....yea, he always thought that was funny...oopps...no siree, close ports ALL!...shwew, that was close,ha, he thought it was funny when they uploaded metro and it played I touch myself whenever I moved the arm. Now who's laughing. Now I wonder if I can get the power up on this laser. I need at least thirty kilo watts to build that spaceship like the one on the TOS show, thank god I got netflix back up.......today one small red planet, tomorrow the galaxy!!! hey that's an idea, maybe I'll watch red dwarf series and see if there are any better ideas for a space ship!!....and then I gotta hack the review on the touring biography, man that really was a lousy flick......
Oh how I would love to be in the command center controlling the direction as to where the rover could go....I would show you things that would shake the foundations of your belief system.