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NASA conquers Curiosity computer concerns
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: March 19, 2013


HOUSTON -- Sidelined by computer glitches since late February, NASA's Curiosity rover is on track to resume research on Mars after exiting a science-halting safe mode, officials said Tuesday.


The Curiosity rover used a camera at the end of its robotic arm to take this self-portrait. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
 
Two safe mode events suspended Curiosity's science activities since Feb. 27. Engineers have diagnosed the cause of a safe mode disruption that occurred Saturday, and officials have a workaround in place to keep the rover from experiencing a fault like one that happened in late February.

The rover was scheduled to resume science operations as soon as Monday, according to John Grotzinger, Curiosity's project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

But the rover fell into safe mode Saturday when an on-board computer was trying to delete unnecessary files from its computer as part of standard housekeeping activities.

The computer placed the rover into safe mode when a command file failed a size-check by the rover's protective software, NASA said in a statement. Controllers discovered a software bug that attached an unrelated file to the file scheduled for deletion, causing the size mismatch.

After a straightforward fix, the rover is out of safe mode, a type of precautionary standby state, NASA announced Tuesday.

Controllers expect to restore the rover to full operability later this week and begin further analysis of rock samples acquired by Curiosity's drill.

Curiosity's science activities have been suspended since the rover entered an apparently unrelated safe mode Feb. 27. Engineers blamed the glitch in late February on corrupted memory, which prompted NASA to swap the rover from its A-side computer to a redundant B-side computer.

Engineers aren't sure what caused the memory problem, but officials have verified the A-side computer is ready to take over should a similar problem occur on the B-side computer.

"We don't know exactly what caused it yet, whether it's a hardware issue or whether it was a radiation event," Grotzinger said. "However, the engineers do know where the corruption is, and they know how to map around it."

Grotzinger discussed the rover's status Monday at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference near Houston.

Officials want to ensure both of Curiosity's computers are healthy before Mars reaches the opposite side of the sun from Earth, an event known as solar conjunction. Because Mars will pass directly behind the sun as viewed from Earth, controllers will be unable to send commands to Curiosity for four weeks beginning April 4.

"The project has also been able to upload some patches to the software on the B-side, so that what occurred on the A-side won't happen on the B-side. We feel like we're good to go with that," Grotzinger said.

Before the solar conjunction halts communications with the rover, scientists want Curiosity to complete another on-board analysis of powder extracted by the rover's drill from sedimentary mudstone at a location named Yellowknife Bay inside the Gale Crater landing site.

Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy experiment, or CheMin, and the Surface Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument packages measure the mineral and chemical make-up of samples collected by the rover's scoop and drill.

The on-board lab's first look at the powdered drill sample detected the chemical signature of a watery environment thought to have once been habitable for microbial life. The first analysis used only a fraction of the powder gathered by the first drill activity in February.


This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the first sample of powdered rock extracted by the rover's drill. Part of the sample was dumped into the rover's CheMin and SAM instruments, and another portion of the powder will by analyzed later this month. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
 
Grotzinger said a second analysis of the same sample is important to verify the result.

"You get to repeat what you did the first time and make sure it's real," he told Spaceflight Now. "Scientists do that all the time. The other thing is once we get comfortable with that, we can change the parameters of the experiment, so we can run it under different conditions and get a different result."

Controllers will program low-intensity science observations, such as weather monitoring and imaging with the rover's cameras, for Curiosity during the solar conjunction. Curiosity will transmit the data back to engineers when it is back in radio contact with Earth.

"During that time, we don't get anything because Mars is behind the sun and we don't even communicate. We don't even get any engineering data during that time," Grotzinger said.

After the conjunction ends in late April, Grotzinger said Curiosity will likely drill another hole in bedrock near its current location at Yellowknife Bay, then drive toward Mount Sharp, the rover's ultimate destination.

Mount Sharp is a three-mile-high mound at the center of Gale Crater, and data collected by Mars orbiters show the peak consists of layered clays which give researchers a glimpse into a wide chunk of the red planet's geological history.

Curiosity's primary science goal is to search for organic material, which could be embedded in Mount Sharp's sedimentary layers.

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VIDEO: THE MARS SCIENCE LAB FULL LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ATLAS 5 ROCKET LAUNCHES MARS SCIENCE LAB PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ONBOARD CAMERA VIEW OF NOSE CONE JETTISON PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ONBOARD CAMERA VIEW OF THE STAGING EVENT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ONBOARD VIEW OF ROCKET RELEASING MSL PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH DECLARED A SUCCESS PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: OUR VIEW OF LIFTOFF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: VAB ROOF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: PATRICK AFB PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: SOUTH OF THE PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: THE BEACH TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: SHUTTLE PAD CAMERA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: SHUTTLE WATER TOWER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: TRACKER WEST OF THE PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: CLOSE-UP ON UMBILICALS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: COMPLEX 41 VIF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAYS: THE PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH PROJECT MANAGER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF ATLAS 5 ASCENT PROFILE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROCKET'S LAUNCH CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MSL'S LAUNCH CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SPACECRAFT CLEANROOM TOUR PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ATLAS ROCKET ROLLS OUT TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE VIEWS OF ROCKET ROLLOUT PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: THE PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: CURIOSITY ROVER SCIENCE BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: LOOKING FOR LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE PLAY
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VIDEO: ROBOTICS AND HUMANS TO MARS TOGETHER PLAY

VIDEO: PREVIEW OF ENTRY, DESCENT AND LANDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF CURIOSITY ROVER EXPLORING MARS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: A FLYOVER OF THE GALE CRATER LANDING SITE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: NUCLEAR GENERATOR HOISTED TO ROVER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MARS SCIENCE LAB MOUNTED ATOP ATLAS 5 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MOVING MSL TO ATLAS ROCKET HANGAR PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SPACECRAFT PLACED ABOARD TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: APPLYING MISSION LOGOS ON THE FAIRING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MSL ENCAPSULATED IN ROCKET'S NOSE CONE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FINAL LOOK AT SPACECRAFT BEFORE SHROUDING PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: HEAT SHIELD INSTALLED ONTO SPACECRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: BEAUTY SHOTS OF SPACECRAFT PACKED UP PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ATTACHING THE RING-LIKE CRUISE STAGE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PARACHUTE-EQUIPPED BACKSHELL INSTALLED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SKYCRANE AND CURIOSITY MATED TOGETHER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TWO-HALVES OF ROCKET NOSE CONE ARRIVES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CENTAUR UPPER STAGE HOISTED ATOP ATLAS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FINAL SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER ATTACHED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FIRST OF FOUR SOLID BOOSTERS MOUNTED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FIRST STAGE ERECTED ON MOBILE LAUNCHER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STAGES DRIVEN FROM HARBOR TO THE ASOC PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROCKET ARRIVES ABOARD SEA-GOING VESSEL PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: STOWING ROVER'S INSTRUMENTED ROBOT ARM PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: NUCLEAR GENERATOR FIT-CHECK ON THE ROVER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROVER'S NUCLEAR POWER SOURCE ARRIVES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SPIN-TESTING THE RING-LIKE CRUISE STAGE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: UNCOVERING CURIOSITY ROVER IN CLEANROOM PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: UNVEILING THE ROCKET-POWERED SKYCRANE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: UNBOXING THE ROVER FROM SHIPPING CRATE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROVER HAULED FROM RUNWAY TO PHSF FACILITY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MARS ROVER ARRIVES AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: DESCENT WEIGHTS INSTALLED ON BACKSHELL PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SOLAR ARRAY PANELS ATTACHED TO CRUISE RING PLAY | HI-DEF
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