netcurmudgeon (netcurmudgeon) wrote,
netcurmudgeon
netcurmudgeon
  • Mood: geeked
  • Music: Ray Lynch -- The Sky of the Mind

Under the heading of "if it's got software, it's IT"

I am completely amazed, and thoroughly overjoyed that NASA's year and a half old missions to Mars are sill going — and going strong. The level of skill and care required to keep two robots moving and healthy on another planet ... lemme just say that my hat's off to the men and women at JPL. I can't go for a year without making at least one mistake with my network that requires a trip in the car to go on-site and fix. You can't just drive over to Mars. Doing it all hands-off. Wow.

Lest I forget, the Mars Odyssey team showed their mettle in the past week when their spacecraft went in to "run for mamma mode" due to a fault onboard. Odyssey is the primary link for high-speed communications between Earth and Sprit and Opportunity. While Odyssey was in safe mode, the rovers were stuck in situ because they couldn't download their imagery back to Earth for JPL's mission planners to use in planning their next moves. Odyssey's engineers got their ship back in business again, and the rovers have resumed their amazing work.
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