Another "glitch" of the rover "Curiosity" computer made NASA give it a few days off

Rover on the Red Planet"Curiosity" was automatically transferred to the so-called "safe mode", as a result of a computer error that occurred during the next data transfer session held on February 15. At the moment, the connection with the autonomous scientific laboratory is working normally, the rover will have to continue its scientific work very soon, according to a statement published on the website of the US aerospace agency NASA.

In "safe mode" "Curiosity" was transferredliterally a couple of days after NASA officially acknowledged the loss of another rover on the Red Planet, “Opportunity, whose batteries could not recharge because of the dust that covered its solar panels. As a result, the agency had to announce the completion of the mission of the rover, who had worked on Mars for almost 15 years instead of the planned 90 days. Fortunately, the problems with “Curiosity” are not so serious, the agency’s website says.

From the safe mode "Curiosity" brought 19February Since then, the device was able to normally transmit data more than 30 times and no errors occurred during this process. But since NASA’s engineers were not able to establish the cause of the problem, they decided to limit activity to the rover.

“We still do not understand what causedthis failure, so we collect all the necessary information for analysis. The problem of data transmission arose only once. This is encouraging, ”commented Stephen Lee, deputy head of the Curiosity project, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

To prevent the risk of data loss, all scientific activity of the device is temporarily suspended.

“In short, we have reduced the numbercommands for the rover, minimizing changes in its memory bank. I would not want to destroy evidence that could cause a malfunction and reboot the computer, ”added Lee.

The agency notes that very soon the roverwill have to return to their usual activities. The scientific team of the rover found an interesting stone 200 meters from the autonomous laboratory, and would like to drill it while collecting samples for analysis.

Since landing in the Gale crater, the rovermoving toward the foot of Mount Sharpe, which is the central elevation of the crater, covered with a huge layer of eroded sedimentary rocks. The rover is now exploring the Glen Torridon area, where orbiters have noticed signs of clay minerals.

"The research team is eager to get startedto the first drilling in this area. We still do not quite understand what place this region occupies in the general history of Mount Shapra, ”said one of the scientists of the“ Curiosity ”mission, Ashvin Vasavada.

"Curiosity", do not hurt!

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