'Curiosity' - NASA Mars Rover - Due to land 5th Aug 2012
Discussion
Bedazzled said:
China's 100kg lunar rover Chang'e 3 to be launched this year... details here
- plutonium-238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator and solar panels
- optical telescope for astronomy from the moon!
- far UV region camera
- radar to observe lunar soil to 30 meters depth
- panoramic, navigation and engineering cameras
- alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, infrared spectrometer
...but will they share the data?
I think they're sending it to the lunar landing sites to steal all the gold off the remains. - plutonium-238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator and solar panels
- optical telescope for astronomy from the moon!
- far UV region camera
- radar to observe lunar soil to 30 meters depth
- panoramic, navigation and engineering cameras
- alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, infrared spectrometer
...but will they share the data?
Bedazzled said:
They should build a robust off-road buggy rather than another boring rover that plods about at 1mph and stops if it meets a boring pebble. Forget the geology, just fit a decent camera and go dune surfing with remote control via an iPad... bagsy first drive! 
Good luck with the time delay 
Bedazzled said:
Curiosity computer glitch puts it in safe mode here. They think files in the computer flash memory may have been corrupted by cosmic rays!
Interesting update. I hope it can all be fixed and they can carry on. From what I remember reading about the computer on board it's very customisable - so they can make 'workarounds' for a great number of unforeseen problems.Here's The Register's article on it. (Usually it's more techy that the BBC, but also a bit more flippant in headlines!)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/03/curiosity_...
ElReg said:
Nuclear-powered, laser-armed space tank Curiosity is currently working in safe mode, after one of the craft's onboard computers developed a memory glitch.
NASA has switched the craft to its “B” computer, a device identical to the problematic “A” unit, and says “a glitch in flash memory” is the source of the problem.
Curiosity carries two computers, Rover Compute Element-A and the spare Rover Compute Element-B. As we've reported previously, both are powered by a hardened 200MHz PowerPC 750 CPU. Each is equipped with 256MB of RAM, 250KB of read-only memory (in an EEPROM that can be wiped if required) and 2GB of flash storage.
While NASA has not revealed the exact nature of RCE-A's problems but says before it was shut down it “did not send recorded data”. As our previous report states the 2GB of Flash memory is where the rover stores data before beaming it home, it seems highly likely, based on NASA's statement, that it is that 2GB of flash and not the EEPROM that is the source of the problem.
Other reports suggest the rover continuously rebooted due to the flash glitch.
Whatever the source of the problem, Curiosity is now running on RCE-B, which is behaving as its makers intended, but NASA is keeping things simple by doing no science until it can figure out what's wrong.
Magdy Bareh, leader of the mission's anomaly resolution team has said, in a canned statement, that “While we are resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup.
NASA has switched the craft to its “B” computer, a device identical to the problematic “A” unit, and says “a glitch in flash memory” is the source of the problem.
Curiosity carries two computers, Rover Compute Element-A and the spare Rover Compute Element-B. As we've reported previously, both are powered by a hardened 200MHz PowerPC 750 CPU. Each is equipped with 256MB of RAM, 250KB of read-only memory (in an EEPROM that can be wiped if required) and 2GB of flash storage.
While NASA has not revealed the exact nature of RCE-A's problems but says before it was shut down it “did not send recorded data”. As our previous report states the 2GB of Flash memory is where the rover stores data before beaming it home, it seems highly likely, based on NASA's statement, that it is that 2GB of flash and not the EEPROM that is the source of the problem.
Other reports suggest the rover continuously rebooted due to the flash glitch.
Whatever the source of the problem, Curiosity is now running on RCE-B, which is behaving as its makers intended, but NASA is keeping things simple by doing no science until it can figure out what's wrong.
Magdy Bareh, leader of the mission's anomaly resolution team has said, in a canned statement, that “While we are resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup.
You don't use current technology for space hardware. You don't even use stuff that's a couple of years old, you use stuff that's tried and tested, and built using radiation hardened processes. http://www.baesystems.com/product/BAES_058248
The 2GB will be for the controller only. Each camera has its own 8GB local memory, rather than storing it on a central system. Systems designed for space recognise that cosmic rays cause random bits to flip in memory, and have lots of error detection and correction. If it is in flash, they will simply mark the sector as faulty and relocate the data after performing error correction, but right now they will want to understand the exact nature of the problem and use the information to develop strategies for the future.
The 2GB will be for the controller only. Each camera has its own 8GB local memory, rather than storing it on a central system. Systems designed for space recognise that cosmic rays cause random bits to flip in memory, and have lots of error detection and correction. If it is in flash, they will simply mark the sector as faulty and relocate the data after performing error correction, but right now they will want to understand the exact nature of the problem and use the information to develop strategies for the future.
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