Mars Curiosity Rover's Software Upgrade Success: NASA

Curiosity's Landing Site: NASA

  NASA has announced that the Mars Curiosity has had a successful software upgrade that was needed to optimize it for surface operations, and is checking the instruments it will use to explore Mars.  The mission team is also looking down from orbit at Curiosity's new home in Gale Carter.

  The Software upgrade saw the installation of a new version of software on both of the Rover's redundant main computers.  This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the Curiosity's memory from Earth.

  "We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben Cichy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory Mission.

  A key capability in the new version is image processing to check for obstacles.  This allows for longer drives by giving the rover more autonomy to identify and avoid potential hazards and drive along a safe path the rover identifies for itself.  Other new capabilities facilitate use of the tools at the end of robotic arm.  Curiosity Rover will debut its drive in Mars ASAP.