Posted on 02/24/2019 5:36:08 PM PST by BenLurkin
When Curiosity attempted to come back online after an inactive period — a process it’s completed more than 30 times previously, according to the post — a glitch triggered a “protective safe mode.”
Scientists back on Earth are working to forensically reconstruct what happened during the hiccup by downloading a snapshot of its memory. They’re also taking a hiatus from its scientific work — which is frustrating for researchers, Space.com pointed out, because they’d been about to drill an “intriguing rock” about 650 feet from the rover’s current location.
“In the short term, we are limiting commands to the vehicle to minimize changes to its memory,” Lee said. “We don’t want to destroy any evidence of what might have caused the computer reset. As a result, we expect science operations will be suspended for a short period of time.”
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
The last time an “intriguing rock” was found they ground off the intriguing part ...
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