Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#1

Post by jonbaer » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 7:00 PM UTC

Mars rover is frozen in place following software error
extremetech.com

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#2

Post by benburleson » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:35 PM UTC

Having worked on autonomous robot software, I'm willing to bet this is software taking the blame for a hardware issue :-)

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#3

Post by kzzzznot » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:38 PM UTC

Would appreciate any technical info from someone who knows more about this, the article is not targeted to a technical audience.

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#4

Post by 1123581321 » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

A developer I know at JPL has been quite stressed about this operation. Unfortunately I can’t speak to details of the software changes.

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#5

Post by Donald » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

NASA is now reporting the problem as fixed: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8589/sols-2653-265...

(Press article at https://www.space.com/mars-rover-curiosity-attitude-glitch.h...)

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#6

Post by mqzkehfbazkebf » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

benburleson wrote: post #2

Having worked on autonomous robot software, I'm willing to bet this is software taking the blame for a hardware issue :-)

Having worked on autonomous robot hardware i beg to differ

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#7

Post by Donald » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:50 PM UTC

kzzzznot wrote: post #3

Would appreciate any technical info from someone who knows more about this, the article is not targeted to a technical audience.

Here is a description of the problem from a UC Davis geobiologist who is using the rover to study habitability.

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8587/sols-2649-265...

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#8

Post by Ididntdothis » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

This seems to be no big deal. Stuff like this is how learn to do real world robotics.

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#9

Post by vidanay » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 9:01 PM UTC

mqzkehfbazkebf wrote: post #6

benburleson wrote: post #2

Having worked on autonomous robot software, I'm willing to bet this is software taking the blame for a hardware issue :-)

Having worked on autonomous robot hardware i beg to differ

Definitely a wetware problem.

Re: Mars rover is frozen in place following software error

#10

Post by RuleOfBirds » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

benburleson wrote: post #2

Having worked on autonomous robot software, I'm willing to bet this is software taking the blame for a hardware issue :-)

No burn, but having worked outside the domain of autonomous robots, I'm willing to place the blame on an autonomous robot issue