The mars rover has been having a memory problem with the registers (data holding locations) causing it to reset. The cause for this is a flaw in the the previously unknown design idiosyncrasy in the memory management. To fix this they had to change the way that some of the unused registers where configured. The error was first discovered on Nov. 29, 2011, three days after launch, during use of the craft's star scanner. After narrowing down the problem they where able to fix the problem and confirming it after running billions of tests.
I found this interesting because they where able to fix it while it was on mars. It is a good thing that it was only an error in the way the computer system was running and not with the actual hardware because they can simply reprogram the way the registers work. It goes to show that even with all of the tests done before hand on a project that things can still go unnoticed until it is put in use.
How did they fix it? Like what was physically done here on earth to make the changes?
ReplyDeletei think its really weird how it had memory issues to begin with...nice article though
ReplyDeleteso is the rover on mars now? you said the problem was descovered three days after launch. Im wondering if it is on mars now and functioning. That is lucky that they could fix the computer problem from earth.
ReplyDeleteWhat was wrong with it to begin with? Its cool that they could fix something that is so far away and have it working properly again! Now we can find even more cool things on Mars!
ReplyDeletewas this a techincal problem or a computer problem? because i read somwhere they did a wheel alighment on a rover while it was on mars but i guess that was a while ago. heres the link to that though:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7284-mars-rover-opportunity-has-wheel-trouble.html
Do you know if there has been multiple rovers on Mars? Which number was this?
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy that they could fix that all the way from here on earth
ReplyDelete