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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 10.04.04 14:17l 76 Lines 3016 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 6F0737ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: Status, April 9th
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<DB0RES<ON0AR<WB0TAX<N1UAN<ZL2TZE<ZL2AB
Sent: 040410/1203Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:38731 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Update: Spirit and Opportunity
SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Stands Down for Flight Software Update - sol 94,
Apr 09, 2004
Spirit began a four-sol stand-down on sol 94, which ended at 8:37 p.m.
on April 8, 2004. During this time, the rover will receive a flight
software update that should make its remaining martian days even safer
and more productive. The upload will run through sol 97 with a rover
re-boot on sol 98, Monday, April 12. Opportunity will be receiving the
same update package in upcoming sols.
Spirit is currently parked in front of the rock called "Route 66," and
will remain there for the duration of the flight software update, with
the Mössbauer spectrometer integrating on the rock, and the alpha
particle X-ray spectrometer pointed up to the sky.
The flight software update package includes three key changes. First is
an update to the autonomous navigation software that will allow Spirit
to travel longer distances autonomously over the extremely rocky Gusev
Crater terrain. The current autonomous navigation software sometimes
gets stuck when it detects a hazard that it can't navigate around. The
new version will allow Spirit to turn in place to find the best possible
path.
The second part of the flight software update will allow Spirit to
recover more easily from an anomaly like the one that occurred on sol
18. Although operational processes and software have already been
updated to prevent something like this from ever happening again,
engineers have included additional safety nets in the software that
would allow the rover to autonomously react to a similar anomaly and
recover to a more stable state.
The third portion of the update is specific to Opportunity and is
intended to mitigate against energy loss associated with the stuck
heater on Opportunity's instrument deployment device. The fix allows
rover planners to put the rover in a deep sleep mode, where the
batteries are totally removed from being able to power the stuck switch.
Therefore, with no power reaching the stuck heater switch, the
Opportunity rover battery will not be drained. Rover controllers will
not initiate the deep sleep capability on Spirit unless it becomes
necessary.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Traveling Around the Trough - sol 73, Apr 08, 2004
Opportunity was on the move again on sol 73, which ended at 7:39 a.m.
PST on April 7. The rover toured and examined the trough remotely.
Opportunity woke up to "Let the Good Times Roll" by B.B. King - a nod to
Spirit's successful primary mission of 91 sols and a call for more good
times during the coming sols.
=========================
73 de Alan, (Sysop ZL2AB).
AX25:ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
IP :zl2val@qsl.net
APRS:!3903.34S/17406.45E]
Message timed: 23:58 on 2004-Apr-10 (NZT)
Message sent using WinPack-AGW V6.80
Points to ponder
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rural wisdom
------------
Don't name a pig you plan to eat.
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