They're able to store data in much of the flash memory on side A:http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1437Looking forward to tomorrow! Press conference at 10 am Pacific/11 am Mountain. I'll try to keep up as best I can.
Did the analysis provide an isotope breakdown of the carbon that was found?
Getting back to the engineering for a bit...From http://go.nasa.gov/Vws8LbQuote"...Also, we need to go through a series of steps with the B-side, such as informing the computer about the state of the rover -- the position of the arm, the position of the mast, that kind of information."This is intriguing me. Obviously, there's no external means to determine the position of the arm etc. (I AM ruling out the possibility of reconstructing the positions from the pictures that were beamed back before the rover went into safe mode, and any potential for the orbiters to suddenly provide spy satellite quality images)Now, given that there's no external means of position determination, the rover has to get this information from onboard instrumentation. If the B side is up and running, shouldn't it automatically read these parameters? I mean there's got to be a subroutine that does this, because the rover's semi-autonomous. Furthermore, when the rover goes into safe mode, doesn't it bring the arm and mast into a least risk position as it does (so the state would be pre-defined and known -- unless of course, this step didn't happen)?Or do they imply that they've got to copy the relevant information from the A-side? Because that might be problematic...
"...Also, we need to go through a series of steps with the B-side, such as informing the computer about the state of the rover -- the position of the arm, the position of the mast, that kind of information."
Does this discovery make it more likely that Gale Crater will be the landing site for the next rover and/or Martian Sample Return mission?Also: can the powder around the drill holes Curiosity's made so far be collected on a later sample return mission? Are there any plans for that?
Also: can the powder around the drill holes Curiosity's made so far be collected on a later sample return mission? Are there any plans for that?
Quote from: Bubbinski on 03/13/2013 02:24 amDoes this discovery make it more likely that Gale Crater will be the landing site for the next rover and/or Martian Sample Return mission?Also: can the powder around the drill holes Curiosity's made so far be collected on a later sample return mission? Are there any plans for that?I would add does this make it more likely that this will be where the EXOMars rover will be sent as well?
A new glitch on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has forced the vehicle to stay in safe mode longer than planned, stalling science operations for another couple of days, scientists said today (March 18).