Mars Probe has software glitch (CBS)

[Endangered Specie]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/02/tech/main591149.shtml

(CBS/AP) NASA engineers have determined there's a software problem with the Mars Spirit rover on the Red Planet's surface, and it won't be a quick fix.
<snip>
"I would suspect we would not be restoring functionality to spirit for a significant period of time," Pete Theisinger, rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

My take: This is good news/bad news:

Bad news: Software glitches are a pain to fix

Good news: Software glitches CAN be fixed (unlike many other things that could have caused these problems) That and Opprotunity wont be rolling for at least 10 days or so... by then, any flaws found can be fixed on it before it ventures onto Mars.

[bif]

1. Probably got a virus while downloading porn

n/t

[pmbryant]

2. They haven't duplicated the problem yet, apparently

So I don't really understand why they are sure this is a software problem.

But at least there is still hope they can revive the thing.

:-)

--Peter

[Endangered Specie]

5. I assume that they know the probe religiously and are sure of themselves..

Softwars problems usually produce funny glitches and comm problems...
Hardware problems are usually VERY apparent..

The probe has lots of self diagnostic tools and programs

[leftofthedial]

3. will this slow down the PNAC Mars invasion plans?

n/t

[papau]

4. BOONDOCKS is a must read comic today on Bush/PNAC Mars Attacks plan

:-)

[pinkpops]

6. Diebold, perhaps?

[Lex]

7. Opportunity lands tomorrow

Isn't Opportunity due to land tomorrow?

I guess it won't be rolling off its lander for about 10 days or so (if everything goes well).

Very exciting. I do hope they can figure out the software glitch. They sound pretty mystified about it.

[Heyo]

8. I just watched the NASA news conf.

It's a little more complicated than a software glitch.. the software glithc my be a symptom of another problem.. i.e. some hardware fault the software did not know how to handle...

The rover keeps re-booting itself over and over.. has done it almost 60 times...

-Heyo

[Endangered Specie]

9. my computer has done that before

[pmbryant]

10. That doesn't sound very promising

This sounds a bit more complicated than just a "software glitch". Thanks for the information.

--Peter

[markus]

15. The glitch might precisely that

I'm not an embedded systems kind of guy, but they clearly didn't trap a particular potential fault (in hard or software) in a way that would prevent the loop.

This is one reason we want to send people into space. We need someone on-site to "press F8" as it were and try to manually trap the condition. Or, like that crazy Russian guy on the asteroid movie, just start whacking at it with a big wrench. "This-is-how-we-fix-it-on-russion-space-station!"

Or, worse case, they've gotten into a failure loop under which the can't get to a state to have sufficient control to transmit new software and have it load.

Did I see on the the snippets of the PBS show (it was on against the Sugar Bowl so I only saw bits during commercial) that they launched without the S/W done because of "challenges"?

[9215]

11. I wish we could apply the same skill and hard work

used to send this probe to Mars to more down to Earth problems.

I hope they fix the glitch.

[snooper2]

12. Software was probably outsourced to India

eom

[Voltaire99]

13. Inaccurate slur on India

Pretty big reach -- but if we're going to make it, the correlation between geographic origin and software failure doesn't reflect well upon us.

The world's buggiest and most insecure software is Microsoft Windows. . .designed and built right here in the US of A.

And you do realize that Linux, demonstrably the best platform, is made by people all over the world? Heterogeneity trumps the monoculture!

American capitalists want to shed good-paying jobs to squeeze more profit out of their companies for short-term gain, and damn the social consequences for our nation. Knocking India only helps them get away with this.

[snooper2]

18. You think Windows

development is done in the United States? And yeah, Linux is open source to people around the World, but most of the Linux gurus I know work with people here in the states.

I have a friend who works on software for a banking company. To get his severence package last year, he had to TRAIN 4 H1B people. Whatever...

[snooper2]

19. Here's a Windows Development job, in Bangalore

http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?q=enterprise+collaboration+management

14. spewing gibberish since Wednesday....

that's what the Fox News ticker on 6th Avenue says right now.
Too bad they don't say that about Bush!!!

[Zero Gravitas]

16. FOX "News"

So the FOX "News" ticker stopped spewing gibberish so that it could say the the Rover has started spewing gibberish?

FOX News -- spewing gibberish since 1996.

[cprise]

20. The Spirit out-survived Darwin's Beagle2

...and then when wacko and started speaking in tongues.

Does the 'gibberish' sound anything like Pat Robertson?

[sendero]

17. As a software jock...

... I try to eschew words like 'glitch'. When I'm feeling extra-precise, I jettison 'bug' too.

Because this is a almost certainly programming error, pure and simple.

I'd forget about manned missions until we can send a freaking robot and have it work. :(

[Heyo]

21. The best site for info.

FYI.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html

Heyo