This article is more than 1 year old
A little image magic gets Curiosity's wheels turning again
Workaround de-glitches rover's computer
The Curiosity Rover is not about to become a nuclear waste dump on Mars as the trundling science lab has become mobile again after a glitch put it in safe mode last week.
The root cause of the bug is a little mysterious, but NASA reckons an image transfer mode brought about the glitch, so the agency will avoid using that mode, at least until they've nailed down a permanent fix.
The status update says drily:
The most likely cause of entry into safe mode has been determined to be a software mismatch in one mode of how image data are transferred on board. Science activity planning for the rover is avoiding use of that mode, which involves writing images from some cameras’ memories into files on the rover’s main computer. Alternate means are available for handling and transmitting all image data.
The rover was brought out of safe mode on July 9, and the little nuclear-powered tractor re-entered full operations today (July 11, US time).
The rover's Twitter account was initially despondent about the timing of the outage.
No sick days since 2013, and I go into precautionary safe mode over a holiday weekend? #smh https://t.co/vPXUmmiTyj
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) July 6, 2016
That switched to apparent ennui:
Here I go again on my own. Down the only road I've ever known. Out of safe mode—back to work https://t.co/vPXUmmiTyj pic.twitter.com/v4TI4AZt5T
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) July 11, 2016
Let's leave with a little levity from Curiosity's sarcastic doppleganger … ®
Rover to NASA, I’ve got a new mission now, sorry… pic.twitter.com/g5eaRRt9mJ
— SarcasticRover (@SarcasticRover) July 11, 2016