Curiosity 'glitched' Wednesday, when it failed to transmit recorded data, although it did send status information. Scientists have switched Curiosity to a sort of 'safe mode' as a precaution and have suspended scientific endeavors until the problem is resolved.
Even NASA has computer problems, it seems. The issue arose from a corrupted flash memory sector in Curiosity's "A-side" computer. It has a dormant "B-side" computer that acts as a backup if A should fail, and A has been active since before the rover even landed on Mars, Discovery News reports. While the B side computer takes over, interplanetary tech support scientists are working to restore A as a viable backup.
Science projects will take several days to resume.
Despite this minor setback, Curiosity has already made significant progress on Mars. In mid-February, it took a sample of Martian rock, drilling a 2-centimeter hole and processing the material. Using an X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyzer, Curiosity will determine the minerals present in the rock, and confirm whether or not water was involved in the sample's creation. A SAM (sample analysis at Mars) lab will test it for organic matter. Joel Hurowitz, a sample system scientist, said he was confident that "the rocks in this area have a very rich geological history."
Curiosity is equipped with sensors and software so that it does not wear out its drill on mineral sites it can't penetrate — quartz, for instance, is too much for the rover to handle. Curiosity's next drill site will be determined by what they find.
Other projects on NASA's Mars-obsessed agenda include sending a rover that can carry a payload and transport it back to Earth. That rover will be heading to Mars in 2020, with a design very similar to the Curiosity's. Budget cuts to the space program have scientists on edge, however, threatening two satellites already orbiting Mercury and Saturn, and it also puts a mission to Jupiter's moon, Europa, in peril.
