Posted on 12/30/2014 12:05:57 PM PST by BenLurkin
Usually, all telemetry data is stored in the flash memory, so that when the rover powers down during the Martian night or reboots, the data remains stored — like when you turn off your digital camera, the photos remain saved to the camera’s flash card. Any data stored in the rover’s RAM, however, is lost as it shuts down.
Flash memory may be great for storing data when the rover’s electronics are powered down, “but flash memory has a limitation on how many times you can read and write to it,” Callas told Discovery News. “It ‘wears out’ with use.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
I can totally believe this ‘NASA” went to Wal mart and bought a flash card for this. The 5 million they saved went to fund Muslim feelings and ISIS.
Meanwhile IIRC, Voyager hums merrily along and still sends occasional data.
Haven’t the Mars Rovers already out lived their
design lifespan??
Flash memory has about a 10 year life expectency, and guess what? The rover went active in 2004. The thing was only planned to work for about 3 months or so.. its been running for over 10 years. These rovers have far outlived their planned life expectancy.
Not sure but Voyager did 30 years ago and still works.
Their planned lifespan were 90 martian days, this little guy is well well well beyond his planned mission
Yup, and all that with a main antenna that probably has more holes than a colander at this point.
And it’s not “occasional data”. It still reports back regularly, and is continuing to provide data about conditions at and beyond the boundary of the solar system. From Wikipedia: Voyager 1 is expected to continue its mission until 2025, when its generators will no longer supply enough power to operate any of its instruments.
Built with a slide rule. Still works. Gotta love analog gear ;)
"Whoa, what happened? Where am I? Wait, I'm on Mars??!!! What the heck!!!??"
If you find the American flag the Apollo astronauts planted there in the 60s, Shelia would be eternally grateful ;)
Why is it so cold in here?
Honey, put on a sweater.
What time is it?
Those vacuum tubes were built to last.
FLASH!~
Lois Lerner in training as next MARS female astronut.
Its a fascinating read about the tube production gear that all went offline when ICs and such took over. Then Tube audio gear/guitar amps got popular and china and Russia suddenly had the only sources.
you can guess why VF14 NOS tubes for Telefunken U47 (Sinatra style) microphones trade for thousands of dollars used.
Groundhog day?
8 Track
The cosmic ray bombardment must inevitably destroy its memory, even if regular use - amazingly - hasn't yet.
Like more than a few of the robotic missions from that era, some of which are still yet to fly, they have performed amazingly well.
I think this one has been roving backwards for more than a martian year now, and Curiosity - the queen of this long program - has its own achilles heel... tires that proved insufficient on terrain that proved too well-packed and pointy. I think they caught it in time, but barely.
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