Curiosity Rover to temporarily change "brain"

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week ordered the agency's Curiosity rover to switch to its second computer. This switch will allow engineers to carry out a detailed diagnosis of a technical problem that has prevented the active mobile computer from storing science and some key technical data since September 15th.

Like many NASA spacecraft, Curiosity has been designed with two redundant computers, called in this case Side A and B computers, to allow for continued operations in case of glitches. After reviewing several options, JPL engineers recommended that the mobile move from side B to side A, the computer initially used by the mobile after landing.

The mobile continues to send limited engineering data stored in short-term memory when it connects to a relay orbiter. He is also healthy and receives orders. But anything that prevents Curiosity from storing scientific data in long-term memory, also prevents the storage of mobile event records, a log of all the actions needed by engineers to make a diagnosis. The computer exchange will allow data and event records to be stored on the A side computer.

Side A, more than five years ago, the ground 200 of the mission knew hardware and software problems, leaving the mobile uncontrollable and discharging its battery. At that time, the team successfully passed to the B side. The engineers have since diagnosed and quarantined the portion of the memory of the affected A side, so that the computer is at new available for the mission.

"At this point, we are confident that we can fully resume our operations, but it is too early to say in what timeframe," said Steven Lee of JPL, Deputy Project Manager of Curiosity. "We are working on the A side as of today, but it may take time to fully understand the root cause of the problem and find alternatives for the B-side memory.

"We spent last week checking out the A side and preparing it for the exchange," Lee said. "It is certainly possible to run the mission on the side A computer if we really need it.But our plan is to get back to side B as soon as we can solve the problem in order to use its largest memory size. "

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More information:
To learn more about Curiosity, visit mars.nasa.gov/msl/