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REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Handout
Self-portrait of the rover Curiosity, combining dozens of exposures taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 177th Martian day, or sol, is seen in this February 3, 2013 NASA image.
By Irene Klotz, Reuters
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A computer glitch, possibly caused by radiation, has put on hold the Mars rover Curiosity's first attempt to analyze powder from inside an ancient rock, officials said on Monday.
Engineers said they hope the NASA rover can resume limited science operations this week.
"I don't expect there to be any long-term impact," project manager Richard Cook told Reuters. But "it's probably too early to tell."
The $2.5 billion robotic geology station was in the middle of analyzing its first samples drilled out from the interior of a rock when its primary computer developed a problem on Wednesday.
The craft transmitted the results of four onboard laboratory tests to ground controllers before science operations were suspended, Cook said.
The rover landed inside the Gale Crater impact basin, located near the Martian equator, on Aug. 6, 2012, for a two-year mission to see if the planet most like Earth in the solar system has or ever had the chemistry and conditions to support microbial life.
Engineers over the weekend switched the rover to its identical backup computer system.
On Monday Curiosity was beginning to emerge from the shutdown of all but essential systems following the electronic brain transplant. Meanwhile, troubleshooting on the faulty computer system is under way.
"We plan to do a couple of more checkouts on the original computer, probably on Wednesday," Cook said.
The problem is in a flash memory system and may have been the result of a radiation hit, he added.
"If I were to guess the most likely cause, that would be it," Cook said.
Engineers want to restore Curiosity's damaged computer system so that it can be returned to service as a backup. The rover had been using its A-side computer system since before landing.
The B-side system, now in operation, was last used during Curiosity's nine-month cruise from Earth to Mars.
Results of the rover's chemical analysis of the rock sample remain set for release on March 12, lead scientist John Grotzinger wrote in an email to Reuters.
Scientists chose the rock in part because it is shot through with what appear to be minerals that form in the presence of water. Water is believed to be necessary for life.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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The rover is stuck? Howard from the Big Bang must be getting laid tonight...........
IXLR8
No. It found out that a very large comet is going to hit mars the end of this year or next. It's gone on strike until they get it the hell out of there. ®¿®
"$2.5 billion robot" temporarily incapacitated by radiation (probably).
Can anyone imagine how much a permanent settlement for humans that would be robust enough to not suffer incapacitation at any moment would cost if a "small" robot cost 2.5 billion?
We need to build a Moon base using telepresence robots. When we can do that and make it a self sustaining economy, then we will be ready to colonize Mars. Otherwise it is a fabulous work program for some intellectual elites.
Look up "single event upset (SEU)" and "latchup". Both are radiation induced problems with computer memory and processors on space missions (satellites, etc.). This is no different.
Nice point Sanscience....
Since the MSL cost equals that of approximately one B2 Spirit bomber (give or take a couple of hundred million $$), Curiosity sounds like a pretty good trade off. I think for inspiration points, the MSL likely wins hands down (sorry USAF).
I'm all for the peaceful employment of our "intellectual elites".. as opposed to our less-than-intellectual "elites" in congress, who seem be be adverse to any productive or meaningful employment... too bad NASA is adversely impacted by the sequester. :(
2.5 billion dollars. Roads crumbling, bridges failing, schools failing and major problems here in the USA and we are spending money for what? I am all for exploration, but lets fix what is broke here first. 2.5 billion could have put thousands of people to work repairing our own ifrastructure. What a waste of money.
That 2.5 billion dollars is providing good paying jobs here, it did provide good manufacturing jobs building the machine and is still providing support jobs in NASA. The only money from Earth that is on Mars is the 1 penny mounted to the side. Blame the crumbling infrastructure on the inept Congress and the failure to do anything.
How about we start collecting taxes from churches, mosques and temples? We could fund about 70 Mars Rovers A YEAR with those funds. Considering faith has has held back humanity for thousands of years, it's high time faith antes up and does some penance of its own.
Every dollar was spent right here on Earth, almost all of it in the US.
That $2.5 billion put thousands to work sending that rover to mars. It's not like we loaded the money into a rocket and shot it into space. Would have been much better to put the $400 billion the fed spent on unemployment and welfare last year into a jobs program to rebuild the infrastructure instead of paying people to sit at home. That is equal to over 8 million median income jobs.
I say they're hiding the revelation that biological matter was detected. I'm kidding of course, I just needed to get it out there before the conspiracy theorists.
dude...the martians just came out of their holes and switched the @!$%#ing thing off......
It does look like a guy with a beard and a T shirt but when you magnify to 125 you can see it's a reflection. Great pic though.....
Howard!!! What'd you do now?
Flash drives were a good Idea.
Why weren't they lead or gold shielded?
Both lead and gold, when struck by a high-energy cosmic ray, "spray" secondary particles - causing even MORE harm over a larger area of the memory.
This is hardware that is "hardened" for exposure to the rigors of space. When an area of memory is hit (as seems to have happened here), the drive is re-mapped to exclude the damaged bit and get back to work.
I'm not saying it was Ancient Aliens..... but it was Ancient Aliens.
Turn it off...turn it on
I always blame server crashes on random radiation hits. What else could it be?
According to the BOFH's excuse calendar, it was sunspots.
Satellite computers are double redundant (3x units) because service calls are not an option. Mission dependency on space hardened electronics technology has an Achilles heal when dual redundancy is lost to mission economy. Hoping the odds don’t catch Curiosity, but if they do then high order (32x) fault degrading tolerance should be the standard for advancing autoimmunity in our Solar Quest vehicles.
Hmmm, I'll bet this is the same thing that happened to HAL in "2001, A Space Odyssey".
On a more serious note, this is why I've been harping all along to PLEASE start doing some science before things break down and we can't do anything. So far, this has been the most anticlimactic mars rover ever! Argh!
I think they've done a lot more then they're letting us know right now.