Curiosity will move faster on Mars and wear fewer wheels

14 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

NASA’s veteran Curiosity rover on Mars You’ll drive faster and reduce wear on your wheels thanks to a major software update that was completed on April 7.

With years of preparation the update includes 180 changeswhich required the team to suspend Curiosity’s imaging and science operations between April 3 and 7.

“The flight software is essential to our mission, so it’s a big deal for our team,” he said. it’s a statement Kathya Zamora-Garcia, Curiosity project manager, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This is a major software update and we had to make sure we got it right.”

Planning for this upgrade dates back to 2016, when Curiosity last received a software patch. Some changes this time are as small as making corrections to the messages the rover sends to mission controllers on Earth. Others simplify computer code that has been altered by multiple ‘patches’ since Curiosity touched down in 2012. The major changes will help keep Curiosity running more efficiently for years to come.

The rover can now do more of what the team calls “think while driving” something that NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, can do in a more advanced way to navigate between rocks and sand traps. When Perseverance drives, it constantly takes images of the terrain ahead and processes them with a dedicated computer so that it can navigate autonomously during a continuous journey.

Curiosity does not have a dedicated computer for this purpose. Instead, it drives in segments, stopping to process images of the terrain after each segment. That means it has to be started and stopped repeatedly over the course of a long drive. The new software will help the rover process images faster, allowing you to spend more time on the go.

“This won’t allow Curiosity to drive as fast as Perseverance, but instead of stopping for a full minute after a drive segment, we’ll stop for just a moment or two,” said JPL’s Jonathan Denison, head of the operations team for Curiosity. Curiosity engineering. “Spending less time idling between driving segments also means we use less energy each day. And even though we’re almost 11 years old, we are still implementing new ideas to use more of our available energy for scientific activities.”

WEAR OF WHEELS

The team also wants to keep Curiosity’s aluminum wheels, which began to show signs of broken treads in 2013. When engineers realized sharp rocks were eroding the treads, they devised an algorithm to improve traction. and Reduce tire wear by adjusting the rover’s speed depending on the rocks it’s rolling over.

The new software goes further by introducing two new mobility commands that reduce the number of maneuvers Curiosity needs to do as it drives in an arc toward a specific waypoint. With less steering required, the team can reach the drive target faster and decrease inherent wear and tear on the steering.

Overall, the new software will make it quicker for Curiosity’s human drivers, who have to write complex plans containing hundreds of commands. software update it will also allow them to upload software patches more easily than in the past. And it will help engineers plan the movements of Curiosity’s robotic arm more efficiently and aim its “head” over the mast more precisely.