Mars Rover Glitch

JPL ^ | 21 Jan 2004 | JPL

[Fitzcarraldo]

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2004-027
January 21, 2004 4 p.m. PST

MARS EXPLORATION ROVER MISSION STATUS

Ground controllers were able to send commands to the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit early Wednesday and received a simple signal acknowledging that the rover heard them, but they did not receive expected scientific and engineering data during scheduled communication passes during the rest of that martian day.

Project managers have not yet determined the cause, but similar events occurred several times during the Mars Pathfinder mission. The team is examining a number of different scenarios, some of which would be resolved when the rover wakes up after powering down at the end of the martian day (around midday Pacific time Wednesday).

The next opportunity to hear from the vehicle is when the rover may attempt to communicate with the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter at about 8:30 p.m. Pacific time tonight. A second communication opportunity may occur about two hours later during a relay pass via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. If necessary, the flight team will take additional recovery steps early Thursday morning (the morning of sol 19 on Mars) when the rover wakes up and can communicate directly with Earth.

Full details on the rover's status will be described in the next daily news conference Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

- end -

[NeonKnight]

Are they logged in?

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Rover received SIGSEGV core dumped.

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

Hope it's not a 404.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda...

[Hiwayman]

What does that mean?

[Tunehead54]

Great screen capture! I'm copying it to my daughter's desktop! Should be fun ... I'll "fix" it in return for some promises ... Hee Hee !

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Actually so you know what pathetic parents we are - her major chore is to empty the DW and fill it.Still there's a fair amount of fussing ... Worried I'm screwing up .. :-)

[disclaimer]

Java runs remote-controlled Mars rover

I'll bet they can upload Java classes and/or modify it remotely if they need to.

[Phil V.]

I'm a little late to the party! POOP!

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If you'd like to be on or off this MARS ping list please FRail me

[farmfriend]

Better late than never. I just got through reading it myself.

[bonesmccoy]

You're great Phil!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[dougherty]

Richard Hoagland, is that you?

[dougherty]

OMG, is that a real photo or a photoshop job? Too funny.

[jwalburg]

lol

[Denver Ditdat]

Plugh!

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Java eh? It probably ran out of memory and will be running garbage collection for a week.

[disclaimer]

Java eh? It probably ran out of memory and will be running garbage collection for a week

Naw, the version of Java they're running dumps the garbage out behind the rover - out of view of the cameras of course.

[Don Joe]

Java runs remote-controlled Mars rover

Now we know why it takes ten minutes to travel two feet.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Give Rover the "3-finger salute"!

[isthisnickcool]

The sign above Gores head is fitting.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

This is obviously caused by the Martians killing the signal, then putting in a patch so we so no evidence of their existance.