Mars rover to get a long-distance memory wipe and reformat

An artist's representation of NASA's Mars rover. NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA is about to do a task that many a sysadmin has tried before -- it just happens to be doing it from a distance of well over 100 million miles. The Mars Opportunity rover, Curiosity's older sibling, has been having some memory problems lately, requiring increasingly frequent resets that have slowed the rover down while doing all its cool scientific tasks (like examining clay minerals and seeing its shadow).

The space agency has had enough of these resets after performing over a dozen in August alone. "Worn-out cells in the flash memory are the leading suspect in causing these resets," says John Callas, project manager for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project. While it sounds like a wipe is pretty serious memory surgery, the rover has stored critical software and sequences in other spots that won't be touched by the reformat.

Related stories 'Thigh bone' on Mars? NASA explains an unusual find Mars rover spies mysterious 'jelly doughnut' rock Mars rover Opportunity breaks record for miles roamed

Opportunity's flash memory behaves like other types of flash-memory devices we're all familiar with down here on Earth, including digital cameras and audio players.

NASA will first download anything useful from the flash memory and store it here on our planet. Then the rover will be placed in an operating mode that doesn't use the flash memory. The reformatting process will clear the memory and flag the bad cells to keep them out of use. Opportunity should be feeling quite a bit sharper once it's done.

The reformat is set to take place in early September. Perhaps what's most fascinating about all this is how NASA can be located 125 million miles away from the adventurous rover and still perform a memory reformat. Most people find it hard just to back up the data on their personal computers, but NASA is handling it from a distance that is almost unimaginable.

The operation should get Opportunity back on track so it can continue setting records, like driving further than any other off-Earth vehicle in history. Go, Opportunity, go.

Tags: Crave Sci-Tech Mars rovers NASA Space About the author

Read More

Tomorrow Daily 034: Holographic video, new AI "Viv," driving a rover from space, and more

: Holographic video, new AI "Viv," driving a rover from space, and more Your browser does not support the audio element.

Here are some links and notes for all the things on the show today:

OTOY shows off new end-to-end holographic video creationThe creators of Siri reveal "Viv," aim for advanced soft AIAstronaut on ISS controls Earth rover with "Space Internet"New releases: The Expendables 3, Locke, and HohokumUser feedback: Your #TDHolographs tweets, and our Phonetographer of the Day

Of course, you can find us everywhere on social media. Like, follow, and heart us as you desire!

Facebook (/TomorrowDaily)

Read More

Astronaut drives rover on Earth -- from space

The Eurobot getting its commands from hundreds of miles away. Video screenshot by Michael Franco/CNET

If you ever had a remote-controlled car as a kid, you know that driving the thing around isn't always the smoothest operation. The legs of my mom's kitchen table certainly saw their share of accidents from my imprecise maneuvers.

So, imagine trying to operate a car-sized rover from about 250 miles away, while moving at over 17,000 miles per hour. That's what one European Space Agency astronaut did last week (see video below).

Related stories Rosetta spacecraft makes historic comet rendezvous Gaia satellite begins 3D-mapping the galaxy Watch gorgeous HD video from the space station From his home aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Alexander Gerst took the ESA's Eurobot rover through a series of maneuvers on the ground in the Netherlands. Gerst had the rover move around and take pictures, which were then beamed back to him on the space station.

"This was the first time Eurobot was controlled from space as part of an experiment to validate communication and operations technologies that will ultimately be used for future human exploration missions," said Kim Nergaard, head of Advanced Mission Concepts at the ESA's European Space Operations Center, in a statement.

The communication link between the rover and the ISS happened over "a new network that stores commands when signals are interrupted if direct line of sight with Earth or the surface unit is lost, forwarding them once contact is re-established," said the ESA. "In the future, controlling robots on Mars or the Moon will require a sort of 'space Internet' to send telecommands and receive data. Such networks must also accommodate signal delays across vast distances, considering that astronauts and rovers on Mars will have to be linked with mission controllers on Earth."

The Eurobot rover which Gerst controlled is a lander which may someday find itself exploring the moon or Mars. It can be operated either by an onboard passenger, or -- as just demonstrated -- remotely by an astronaut in a nearby ship or on a nearby planet. the rover can hold up to 330 pounds and has two robotic arms that can be fitted with a variety of tools, according to the ESA. It also has advanced vision systems, including a 3D camera, and force and torque sensors.

If only the remote control car I had as a kid was equipped with that type of gear. I'm sure my mom's furniture would have benefited greatly!

Tags: Crave Sci-Tech Space About the author

Read More