Computer Glitch: Mars Rover Curiosity in Safe Mode

by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor

Date: 01 March 2013 Time: 03:32 PM ET

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, 2013. 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. CREDIT: ASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. ET.

A computer glitch on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has forced the robot to switch to a backup computer while engineers try to resolve the problem.

In the meantime, Curiosity's science work is on hold, and the spacecraft is in a minimal-activity state known as "safe mode" while its backup computer is updated with the command codes and parameters it needs to take over the rover's full operations.

"We're still early on in the process," said Richard Cook, Curiosity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We have probably several days, maybe a week of activities to get everything back and reconfigured."



More - Link >>> http://www.space.com/20034-mars-rover-curiosity-computer-glitch.html

Source: Space.com .

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