Mars Moil: One Mission Revived as Others Fight for Life or Await Possible Resurrection
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - 16:49
in Astronomy & Space
For the past few months, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been little more than deadweight--a body as massive as a small car, zooming idly in orbit high above the surface of the Red Planet. After the orbiter's computer suffered a series of unplanned reboots, mission engineers decided in August to hold the probe in "safe mode" to buy time to look for the trouble source while the spacecraft remained in the protective state of limited functionality. [More]