Patching and updating systems is one of the core responsibilities of an IT professional, yet that task often proves challenging depending on the number of devices and applications that need to be patched in the organization.
However, those systems are typically located on Earth. Imagine trying to patch a system on an entirely different planet.
That’s apparently what NASA just did, sending a major software update more than 150 million miles away to the Curiosity rover designed to enable the wheeled robot to drive faster and reduce wear and tear on its wheels that it has endured for over a decade.
In addition, NASA made about 180 other changes in the update, which required Curiosity to essentially be shut down between April 3 and April 7, the space agency says in a press release. This is the equivalent of upgrading a Windows 10 device to Windows 11, albeit from a different planet.
While Microsoft, Google and other tech giants spend a considerable amount of time preparing updates and rolling them out, NASA took nine years to develop and send out this update to Curiosity, with the last update going back to 2016.
Other changes include making corrections to the messages the rover sent back to Earth and simplifications to computer code that had been altered by previous patches.
Software update to help navigate Mars terrain
According to NASA, Curiosity can now do more of what it calls “thinking while driving” – performing in a more advanced way to navigate around rocks and sand traps. This is something that NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, does to help navigate the Mars terrain. Perseverance constantly snaps pictures of the terrain ahead, processing them with a dedicated computer so it can autonomously navigate during one continuous drive.
However, Curiosity isn’t equipped with a dedicated computer for that purpose, instead driving in segments and stopping to process imagery of the terrain after each segment. That results in many stops and starts over the course of a long drive.
The update will help Curiosity process images faster and spend more time on the move, according to NASA.
A new algorithm to protect Curiosity’s wheels
To reduce the wear and tear on the rover’s aluminum wheels which have been showing signs of broke treads since 2013, NASA included in the update a new algorithm designed to improve traction and reduce wheel wear by adjusting the rover’s speed depending on the rocks it’s rolling over.
The update also includes two new mobility commands that reduce the amount of steering the rove needs to do while driving in an arc toward a specific waypoint, helping to further preserve the life of the wheels.
The software update will also help the human controllers on Earth plan the rover’s movements and will make future software updates easier to deploy, according to NASA.
IT admins pushing out a major patch or update may cross their fingers, but doing so across 150 million miles of space is a bit more nerve-wracking, says Jonathan Denison, the rover’s engineering operations team chief, in a statement.
“The idea of hitting the install button was a little scary,” Denison says. “Despite all our testing, we never know exactly what will happen until the software is up there.”
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