NASA activated Curiosity's second 'brain' after it misbehaved
Maybe it just wants a rest?
Tired? Sluggish? Wouldn't it be great if you could just switch your
brain to a better functioning version? Well, that's a privilege you can
enjoy if you're the Mars Curiosity rover. NASA's intrepid explorer has
been subject to a few technical problems over the last two weeks, which
means it's been struggling to send its data back to Earth, so engineers
have decided to activate Curiosity's second brain.
Curiosity has two "brains" (computers), Side A and Side B. It landed on
Mars in 2012 with Side A activated, but was switched to Side B after it
started ignoring orders. Curiosity's deputy project manager explained in
a post that NASA is operating on Side A starting today, "but it could
take us time to fully understand the root cause of the issue and devise
workarounds for the memory on Side B." It is possible for Curiosity to
continue its mission using Side A, but the team intends to switch back
to B as that side has a larger memory. To be fair, Curiosity has been
trundling along for six years now. Maybe it just needs a strong coffee.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/41809
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