Mars rover got Software Upgrade

NASA engineers have upgraded the Software of the NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity 20 December 2013. The NASA team is now planning to check the wear and tear on the wheels of the rover.

As per Jim Erickson of NASA’s jet Propulsion Laboratory project manager for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Project, Curiosity is now operating on version 11 of its flight software. Since 16 month of landing of Curiosity on Mars, this is the third upgrade version. Completing the switch from Version 10 took about a week NASA said.

An earlier switch to version 11 prompted an unintended reboot on 7 November and a return to version 10, but the latest transition went smoothly. The upgrades in Curiosity have allowed advances in its capabilities like version 11 has expanded the capabilities of robotic arm of Curiosity at the time, when it is at slope. It has also improved its flexibility to store the information overnight to use in resuming autonomous driving on a second day.

An upcoming activity would be driven to a relatively smooth patch of ground to take a set of images of Curiosity's aluminum wheels, by the use of Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover's arm.  

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity inside Gale Crater to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions.  JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

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