NASA Curiosity Mars Rover Installing Smarts for Driving

Aug. 10, 2012

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

Guy Webster / D.C. Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-5011
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-276

NASA CURIOSITY MARS ROVER INSTALLING SMARTS FOR DRIVING

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first
weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks
ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm.

The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of
steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software
on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for
Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the
Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth.

"We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the
software as needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben
Cichy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., chief
software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. "The
flight software version Curiosity currently is using was really
focused on landing the vehicle. It includes many capabilities we just
don't need any more. It gives us basic capabilities for operating the
rover on the surface, but we have planned all along to switch over
after landing to a version of flight software that is really
optimized for surface operations."

A key capability in the new version is image processing to check for
obstacles. This allows for longer drives by giving the rover more
autonomy to identify and avoid potential hazards and drive along a
safe path the rover identifies for itself. Other new capabilities
facilitate use of the tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm.

While Curiosity is completing the software transition, the mission's
science team is continuing to analyze images that the rover has taken
of its surroundings inside Gale Crater. Researchers are discussing
which features in the scene to investigate after a few weeks of
initial checkouts and observations to assess equipment on the rover
and characteristics of the landing site.

The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its
target area on Mars at 10:31:45 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (1:31:45 a.m. EDT
on Aug. 6), which includes the 13.8 minutes needed for confirmation
of the touchdown to be radioed to Earth at the speed of light.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as
large as the science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and
Opportunity. Some of the tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for
checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, are the first
of their kind on Mars. Curiosity will use a drill and scoop, which
are located at the end of its robotic arm, to gather soil and
powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these
samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments.

To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five
times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site
at 4.59 degrees south, 137.44 degrees east, places the rover within
driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain.
Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in
the lower layers, indicating a wet history.

For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars

and

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity

and

http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity


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