[meteorite-list] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Safe After Unplanned Computer Swap

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:23:23 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201403111623.s2BGNNFb001879_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-078

NASA Orbiter Safe After Unplanned Computer Swap
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
March 11, 2014

NASA's long-lived Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into a
precautionary safe standby mode March 9 after an unscheduled swap from
one main computer to another. The mission's ground team has begun
restoring the spacecraft to full operations.

"The spacecraft is healthy, in communication and fully powered," said
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Manager Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We have stepped up the
communication data rate, and we plan to have the spacecraft back to full
operations within a few days."

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's science observations and its relaying of
communications from NASA's two active Mars rovers have been suspended.
The rovers continue to use NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter as a
communications relay.

Entry into safe mode is the prescribed response by a spacecraft when it
detects conditions outside the range of normal expectations. Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter has experienced unplanned computer swaps
triggering safe-mode entry four times previously, most recently in
November 2011. The root cause of the previous events has not been
determined. The spacecraft has also experienced safe-mode entries that
have not involved computer swaps.

Unlike any previous safe-mode entries experienced in this mission, the
March 9 event included a swap to a redundant radio transponder on the
orbiter. While the mission resumes operations with this transponder,
engineers are investigating the status of the one that is now out of
service.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter entered orbit around Mars eight years
ago, on March 10, 2006. Since then, it has returned more data than all
other past and current interplanetary missions combined. The mission met
all its science goals in a two-year primary science phase. Three
extensions, the latest beginning in 2012, have added to the science
returns. The longevity of the mission has given researchers tools to
study seasonal and longer-term changes on the Red Planet.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,
manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built
the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it. For more
information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/mro and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/ .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2013-078
Received on Tue 11 Mar 2014 12:23:23 PM PDT