[ad_1]
Posted on Sep 20, 2018
The NASA rover Curiosity stopped on Mars after a glitch forced the end of all its scientific experiments, following one of the largest Martian dust storms ever recorded, which reached 36 million square kilometers. NASA Solar Opportunity rover for three months. Curiosity has weathered the storm as it runs on a nuclear-powered battery and therefore does not depend on the sun's rays to fuel its operations.
The Curiosity mission team claims that the inter-planetary science lab can no longer transfer data stored in Curiosity's memory to Earth, rendering them unusable until the problem is solved.
The mobile is still able to transmit certain data, including on its well-being. It can transmit information to a Mars Orbiter when it passes over, or transmit it directly to the Deep Space Network, a series of antennas on Earth. Vasavada said the engineers had asked Curiosity to send more data on its status, which does not require the mobile to tap into previously stored information.
Curiosity came to Mars six years ago to explore the composition of the rocky terrain and perhaps find organic compounds, reports Marina Koren in L & # 39; Atlantic. The vehicle travels at a very slow pace of less than one kilometer per hour and stops from time to time to dig its drilling equipment into the ground. This week, Curiosity tried to break into a new place, but could not penetrate more than a few millimeters into the rock. "Who would have thought rock rocks could be so difficult?", Reported an article from the rover's science team. Curiosity soared for a new drilling target. Then the mysterious problem appeared.
The researchers said they did not know exactly what triggered the computer problem and that it could take time before the engineers could diagnose and solve the problem. In the meantime, team members are preparing to run the backup computer, in case they need the separate system to diagnose the mysterious problem that affects the main computer.
The researchers said that, except for the glitch, Curiosity is "otherwise healthy and responsive," and can still transmit real-time data on its status to mission control, allowing NASA to diagnose and fix problems with main computer. The backup system, identical to that of the primary computer, served as Curiosity's main system for the first 200 mobile floors on the red planet, before it began to encounter problems.
"Engineers are expanding the details that the rover is transmitting into this data in real time to better diagnose the problem," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Ashwin Vasavada, of Pasadena, California, said Wednesday. "As the amount of incoming data is limited, the engineering team can take a long time to diagnose the problem."
Vasavada wrote: "While the engineers are working to understand the problem, the Curiosity science team is using the time needed to analyze the data collected on Vera Rubin Ridge and find the best location for another drill attempt. We look at all the clues that indicate that the rocks are weaker and better for drilling. As a JPL-based project scientist, I love watching our scientists from around the world tackle these challenges. And, I also observe the intellectual skills that JPL brings when the mobile has a technical problem. We are looking for a team of engineers at 100%! "
The daily galaxy via JPL and the Atlantic
Top 10 Space & Science Titles from 2018
"Spy on the world's most awesome creatures" – Scientists pursue undiscovered whale species swimming below the Eocene
The alien observatory: ancient stars six to nine billion years old in the halo of the Milky Way – "Advanced Civilizations of May Harbor"
Point of No Return researcher predicts Horizon event for Earth's sixth mass extinction
Artificial intelligence already exists and it's billions of years "(WATCH Video)
The "ghost signals" of extraterrestrial civilizations haunt the milky way – suggests the new equation of Drake (WATCH the video)
"Chances are there's never been another civilization in the universe, one out of ten billion billion" – Interview with Joe Rogan
The Alien Observatory – "The mystery of extraterrestrial life is hiding"
"We are entering an unknown territory" – The exoplanets revolution could reveal that the rise of civilizations might not be unusual
"The Big Rip" – When matter and space-time are gradually torn apart by the expansion of the universe
"Humans are the first to arrive at the interstellar stage" – The physicist responds to the Fermi paradox
[ad_2]
Source link
