NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover will soon be hurtling across the red planet’s surface thanks to a new upgrade.
The software update aboard the Curiosity rover, which was completed on April 7th, brings around 180 improvements to the robot, the most notable of which are improved driving abilities, which will also reduce wear and tear on Curiosity’s wheels.
Curiosity, which has been exploring Gale Crater on Mars since August 2012, went into hibernation between April 3rd and April 7th to receive the upgrade. The software boost will assist Curiosity in its mission to search for traces of extinct microbial life in this ancient dry Martian lake bed, NASA officials wrote.
“The flight software is critical to our mission, so this is a big deal for our team,” said Kathya Zamora-Garcia, Curiosity’s project manager, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California a statement. (opens in new tab) “This is a major software update and we needed to make sure we got it right.”
Related: NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity sees blinding ‘sunbeams’ over the red planet
The biggest changes in the update, however, concern Curiosity’s mobility, and these improvements could help the robot roll across the surface of Mars for many years to come, NASA said. Quality of messages sent back to Earth.
Other changes simplify the code, which has been part of Curiosity since 2012, which NASA says will improve the robot’s capabilities for many more years of Mars trekking. (The rover has received multiple software patches during its 11-year Mars exploration so far.)
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Curiosity “thinks on your feet now” like persistence
Curiosity’s Mars rover, the car-sized Perseverance, landed on Mars in 2021 and can “think on the go.” This ability allows Perseverance to navigate around rocks, sand traps, and other obstacles in its territory, which is another dry Martian lake bed called Jezero Crater.
Perseverance navigates by constantly capturing images of the terrain ahead and then processing them with a dedicated computer that enables autonomous navigation during a continuous drive.
Curiosity can’t because, as an older Rover, it lacks a dedicated on-board computer. Instead, Curiosity navigates by dividing its route into segments, pausing after completing each segment to process images of the terrain. This process requires many starts and stops over the course of a long journey.
Related: Mars Rover Curiosity Receives ‘Brain Transplant’
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While the new software update may not allow Curiosity to embark on a smooth, uninterrupted drive like Perseverance, it will help the older rover process terrain images faster.
“This doesn’t make Curiosity go as fast as Perseverance, but instead of stopping for a full minute after a driving segment, we only stop for a moment or two,” said Jonathan Denison, Curiosity’s technical operations team principal, in the same statement.
“If we spend less time idling between driving segments, we also use less energy every day. And although we are almost 11 years old, we are still implementing new ideas to use more of our available energy for scientific activities.”
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Keeping the wheels of Curiosity turning
In 2013, after just a year of cruising, Gale Crater operators noticed that Curiosity’s treads were crumbling. They realized that this was the result of the robot rolling over sharp rocks that chipped its treads.
The NASA team attempted to mitigate this damage by introducing an algorithm into Curiosity. The software adjusts the rover’s speed as it drives over certain rocks, improving traction and reducing wheel wear.
Related: Rugged Mars took big bites out of Curiosity rover’s wheels (photos)
The 2023 update takes this protection a step further by giving Curiosity two new mobility commands that reduce the rover’s steering effort while traversing an arc to a specific waypoint. Less steering means Curiosity will reach its destination faster and reduce steering wear.
The inspiration for this improvement actually comes from two Mars rovers that predate Curiosity. “This ability was actually developed during the spirit and opportunity days,” Denison said, referring to two NASA rovers that landed on the surface in 2004 and outlived their lifespans of 90 suns, or Martian days, by more than a decade.
In addition to benefiting Curiosity itself, the new software will streamline the work of the operations team and human drivers, who must create plans for the robot that include hundreds of commands.
The rover team will be able to more smoothly steer Curiosity’s sample-collecting robotic arm and more accurately aim the rover’s “head” at its protruding mast.
The update also makes it easier to implement future software improvements. Overall, Denison says, the Curiosity team is relieved that this major software update for the rover is working as planned.
“The idea of hitting the install button was a bit scary,” concluded Denison. “Despite all our testing, we never know exactly what’s going to happen until the software is there.”
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