Mars rover problems

[JimmyTango Profile]

Breaking news(no links yet), NASA confirms no data sent from rover for last 24 hours.

[Folic_Acid Profile ICQYIM]

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040121a.html

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Mars Exploration Rover Mission Status

Ground controllers were able to send commands to the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit early Wednesday and received a simple signal acknowledging that the rover heard them, but they did not receive expected scientific and engineering data during scheduled communication passes during the rest of that martian day.

Project managers have not yet determined the cause, but similar events occurred several times during the Mars Pathfinder mission. The team is examining a number of different scenarios, some of which would be resolved when the rover wakes up after powering down at the end of the martian day (around midday Pacific time Wednesday).

The next opportunity to hear from the vehicle is when the rover may attempt to communicate with the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter at about 8:30 p.m. Pacific time tonight. A second communication opportunity may occur about two hours later during a relay pass via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. If necessary, the flight team will take additional recovery steps early Thursday morning (the morning of sol 19 on Mars) when the rover wakes up and can communicate directly with Earth.

Full details on the rover's status will be described in the next daily news conference Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

[JimmyTango Profile]

more: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/22/spirit.contact/index.html

[Murgatroyd]

Rover-jacked again!!!

[MMmmGood]

[shockwave203 Profile]

perhaps it's twin will have better luck

[hightimber Profile ICQ]

Let's not give up on this one yet.

[Agent-Commando]

Maybe they had Windows on it and it suffered a blue screen of death..or in this case, red screen of death...

[hightimber Profile ICQ]

Rover Spirit whose condition has been upgrade to 'serious' from critical now has a sibling on the planet. Opportunity successfully went through entry, descent, and landing. All appears to have gone perfectly. Hopefully, we'll see a picture or two yet this evening/morning.

[Ryan Profile]

From Opportunity





http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-images/jan-25-2004/images-1-25-04.html

[Murgatroyd]

I'm glad that they got it back up & working, the last thing NASA needs is another failed Mars probe.. would be a huge blemish.

[Ryan Profile]

No, Spirit (the first rover) is still down.. but Opportunity (the second mars rover launched a few days after Spirit launched) is transmitting these pics as normal.

[Evan Profile Website]

Originally posted by Ryan
No, Spirit (the first rover) is still down.. but Opportunity (the second mars rover launched a few days after Spirit launched) is transmitting these pics as normal.

They've corrected the crashing problem of Spirit's computer. Now they need to find out how to keep it up and running without problems. Right now it is in a forced sleep mode to recharge the batteries spent trying to fix it.

[hightimber Profile ICQ]

Originally posted by Ryan
No, Spirit (the first rover) is still down.. but Opportunity (the second mars rover launched a few days after Spirit launched) is transmitting these pics as normal.

It's down but not dead. They hope to be roving again in about 2-3 weeks.

[Murgatroyd]

Originally posted by Evan
They've corrected the crashing problem of Spirit's computer. Now they need to find out how to keep it up and running without problems. Right now it is in a forced sleep mode to recharge the batteries spent trying to fix it.

It's probably running Windows...
D'oh!