They had a watchdog timeout that rebooted the drone; it happened when they tried to spin the rotors up to 2400 rpm (which I have to admit is pretty fast for blades that big).
It struck me as pretty remarkable that something as fundamental as a watchdog timeout would have happened “at the job site,” so to speak, but you can’t catch every detail. Especially when the environment is as radically different as the surface of Mars.
I hope they can fix it with the new software. Bit of a long data link, but that’s why error-correcting codes were invented. NASA controlled the New Horizons spacecraft at a much longer distance.
I’ve been watching the fascinating videos about the Apollo Guidance Computer and how “restart on failure” has been one of the cardinal rules for space software ever since. Because you just can’t test and guard against everything...
Thanks to the brilliance of Margaret Hamilton.
They probably didn’t test the power-up sequence at -60°C and in a near vacuum atmosphere.......................
From the article:
“...move the new software through the rover
to the base station and then to the helicopter...”
-
I know what the rover is,
and I know what the helicopter is,
but what is “the base station”?
They had a watchdog timeout that rebooted the drone; it happened when they tried to spin the rotors up to 2400 rpm (which I have to admit is pretty fast for blades that big).
Not enuff aaare!
down here that would be impressive, 2400 rpm
thing would be shooting skyward in no time
but its such a thin atmosphere there
like swimming in air
The rotor span is ~4 feet. (1.2m)
The larger RC helicopters here on earth have rotors that span about the same and spin about the same speed.