back to article Curiosity's new OS upgrade ready to go live

Martian robot tourist Curiosity's new operating system will go into production on 13 August after it was successfully uploaded and installed by mission scientists. The boffins had said the remote upgrade represented a major milestone for the craft. NASA tested the upgrade on August 11th in an exercise during which it “executed …

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  1. Jolyon Smith
    Paris Hilton

    I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

    ... look almost exactly like sand dunes to me. All you need for those is fine particulate matter and a stiff breeze.

    I think the Expectation Meter needs to be dialled down from "Wishful Thinking/MIssion Justified" unless/until more concrete evidence is found.

    Paris, just because "fluvial" sounds just a teensy bit rude.

    1. Steve Knox
      Holmes

      Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

      I take it you based your assessment of those valleys on a rigorous examination of the full-resolution pictures based firmly in your extensive experience in identifying geological features via two-dimensional analysis?

      Or should we dial our Commentard Expectation Meter down from "Witty Expert" to "Bitter Wannabe"?

      1. frankothemountain2

        Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

        Jeeze, lighten up Herbert. You are STIFF!

      2. Avatar of They
        Thumb Down

        Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

        Actually it does look like a fluvial system and that can and does include sand dunes to a leyperson.

        It doesn't prove water per se, but does prove air currents. However the 'clast' and visual aspects of the photos are very similar to evidence found on Earth so an assumption they were formed the same way is a fair estimate based on a 2d image. It could be water, but could also be just air formed.

        The clast composition and formation however could well prove water as that is how they can be formed. Given the 'blast' effect ony cleared a small area and there isn't much top surface would suggest there is either really strong winds (not much depostion of sediment) or not much dust around to settle (what is deposited is a thing layer), or just not much movement by wind which might suggest more water formation than wind.

        Just a few images and you can use existing knowledge to determine tons of stuff, I bet geologosts and geographers will be wetting themselves over the next few months, very exciting stuff.

        I base my assessment on a Dual honours degree in Geography and Geology, including a semester on Martian topography and geophysics.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

          A leyperson? Have they included a ley lines detector? ;-)

      3. Tom 7

        RE:Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

        I must say you should get out more. Play with some sand and see what it does. You don't need water to create this sort of feature.

        Its not long ago(<30yr?) that geologists 'discovered' that rocks could behave like a liquid when flowing down a ditch they'd dug. But they still seem to refuse to admit it. You can have a dry lahar where the flow is 'lubricated' by air but you can also have a flow where the solid particles bounce about just like a fluid but with an erosional power an order or two of magnitude higher. And visually the features they would create would be identical from a 2 or 3d view at the resolutions we have available.

        I'd send a probe to check out the debris more closely before turning on the inverted comma crow machine.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      New software already?

      If it had been Android software the chances are there would have been a 12 month delay.

      1. Vince
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: New software already?

        True if it was the OS, but if it was an app, there'd be near daily updates, occasionally more...

        The number of app updates that seem to arrive on my Android devices is incredible - and annoying (to the point where the only time recently I bothered was when Moto finally released the ICS update for the Xoom 3G here, so after that I let it rinse through the 83 app updates that were waiting...

        If curiosity had an app store and a load of apps, it'd never get any research done...

        1. Tom 38
          Stop

          Re: New software already?

          Can we have one thread on the register that is not prattling on about iPhone and Android, please? There is some real science going on here. Our robot invasion of Mars is proceeding on schedule.

      2. BorkedAgain
        Trollface

        Re: New software already?

        How much fragmentation can a fanboi spot if there's one (1) item of hardware in the wild?

      3. Chris007
        Happy

        Re: New software already? @ AC06:30 GMT

        you said "If it had been Android software the chances are there would have been a 12 month delay.".

        Not quite true, if it'd been on Android but on a contract via <insert mobile network provider of choice here> then it would have been a 12 month delay

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

      "until more concrete evidence is found"

      Blimey, that's wishful thinking... NASA are hoping to find evidence of water, and you're expecting to find water, cement and ballast all mixed together... That would be a revelation! Absolute proof of intelligent life on Mars!

      1. MahFL22

        Re: I have to say that the "valley's" entering the crater ...

        They are not looking for water, they are trying to determin in the location was suitable for life, either now or in the past. That involves, water, an energy source and organic carbon.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @ Jolyon

      A word of advice, friend - whenever you think you need an apostrophe, you're probably wrong, so just forget that key exists on your keyboard and everybody will be much happier.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Roads!

    There's a winding road in the middle of the panorama picture! :P

    1. Ralphe Neill

      Re: Roads!

      And a CANAL!!!

      1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

        Re: Roads!

        I thoat I saw some sort of animal there...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "I thoat I saw some sort of animal "

          Yes, it was a stought. (Small aresmustelinoid, distant relative of the stobor.)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Roads!

      "There's a winding road in the middle of the panorama picture"

      Sounds like a western song to me, all it needs now is Curiousity to go on about how it misses the cat and how it "Gits kinda lonely out here in spaace"

    3. xyz Silver badge

      Re: Roads!

      ...and that sky just gets bluer and bluer with every camera shot. Are we sure they are on the right planet?

      1. Daniel Evans

        Re: Roads! @xyz

        Martian sunsets are, in fact, blue: http://io9.com/5906367/why-are-martian-sunsets-blue

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Roads!

      I see Jawas.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Roads!

      That's not a road, it's a ski trail!

  3. Martin 47

    to me the major gob smack about these pictures from mars is not so much where they are from (which is pretty gob smacking) but that I can view them on a mobile phone or tablet pretty much anywhere in the country.

    When you add in how the rover was landed the whole thing is science fiction come to life.

    Which is nice.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @science fiction come to life

      that's when a picture comes back with the martians waving at us

  4. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Amarzing!

    Top marks to the boffins, whatever their hair-style.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Be a complete bummer if this update...

    ...breaks wireless.

    Seriously though - @ Martin47 you have it spot on. I watched the landing from bed, on my mobile, which was streamed 'Live'. Amazing is just not enough of a description.

  6. Anonymous IV

    Transmission data rate

    Does anyone know what the average data rate is for the transmissions from Curiosity?

    Just curiosity, you see...

    1. volsano

      Re: Transmission data rate

      Somewhere between slow and not very fast

      http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/communicationwithearth/data/

    2. Annihilator
      Coat

      Re: Transmission data rate

      Less than 1Mb/s I believe, or "up to 24Mb" in BT parlance

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Transmission data rate

        "up to 24Mb" in BT parlance

        Cruel, but fair ...

        1. I sound like Peter Griffin!!
          Pint

          Re: Transmission data rate

          You, Sir deserve a pint of our best!!!

  7. frankothemountain2

    Franko

    Why do they need to reload a new OS from that far away? Storage space is pretty plentiful nowadays....and small. Does not compute.

    1. Aitor 1

      Re: Franko

      Because it is a NEW OS? they didn't have it before...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Franko

        Yup, they've got a clone of the rover here so have spent the time the real one has been travelling improving the code based on further testing.

    2. Vince
      Holmes

      Re: Franko

      Because in the silly number of days it has taken since it was dispatched until it arrived (which is only marginally longer than "Home Delivery Network" and "DHL" take for an express service), NASAs lot have written a whole load of stuff that wasn't ready/finished/thought of when it left...

      ...so I guess they figured it would be useful to give it the extra year or two of capability and tech they'd written?

      Or that's what I figured from what I saw elsewhere...

      1. Annihilator
        Happy

        Re: Franko

        @Vince - fairly sure it only took 8 or 9 months to get there, but the point is still valid

    3. Anonymous John

      Re: Franko

      Curiosity doesn't have much by today's standards.It was designed years ago.

      256MB of RAM

      250KB of ROM

      2GB of flash storage

      1. Daniel Evans

        Re: Franko

        Not only designed years ago, but also using specially-hardened cosmic-ray-resistant skycrane-landing-capable hardware. Space is a nasty place - fewer dust bunnies, though.

        Here's the software guy's explanation of it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BArApRIjdTI&feature=player_detailpage#t=1987s

      2. Giles Jones Gold badge

        Re: Franko

        That's a huge amount for an embedded system which is it. It is not a desktop computer running Windows.

        Look at the specs of Arduino and you'll soon see that those specs are quite high.

      3. Elmer Phud

        But can it play . . .

        "Curiosity doesn't have much by today's standards.It was designed years ago.

        256MB of RAM

        250KB of ROM

        2GB of flash storage"

        Hmm, guess not.

        Enough for Space Invaders and Asteroids

    4. annodomini2

      Re: Franko

      1. Consumer stuff is cheap and small. Space rated, radiation hardened hardware designed 13 years ago isn't.

      2. They are not replacing the OS, some of the software in the system was for the landing and skycrane, as it has landed, this is no longer needed, therefore they are reusing the space for other software to help with the scientific mission.

      2GB is actually a lot in embedded terms, 2GB 13 years ago would have been quite a lot of space.

      Just because you can walk into your local supermarket today and buy a 4GB card for next to nothing:

      1. Doesn't mean it will survive in space.

      2. Just because you can change it when it breaks, there's (supposedly) no one on Mars to come and replace it

  8. DeepSpace

    Earth Is The True Planet Of War, Not Mars (Curiosity Rover)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj5ju9ag2ZI

  9. JDX Gold badge

    Clearly Fake

    I mean it just looks like photos from Earth ;)

    They didn't even try and make it look alien by tinting it nice and red!

    1. Crisp
      Coat

      Re: Clearly Fake

      I know!

      If it was really a photo from Mars, wouldn't it have Martians in it?

    2. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Re: Clearly Fake

      That's what I thought.... It looks like the area south of Johannesburg on a spring day. Why travel 600 bazillion miles AND have to re-install your OS just to go and view some rocks?

      (Actually.... I'm not one of the Nay-Sayers. Pretty amazing stuff, this!!)

      <<< Watching this mission with great interest.

      1. JDX Gold badge

        Re: Clearly Fake

        Seriously though in a way it's kind of weird just how non-alien it does look. You feel like you could step out and walk around.

        1. Annihilator
          Thumb Up

          Re: Clearly Fake

          @JDX - indeed, our planet feels less and less special with every scientific discovery.

          Where's your messiah now, Flanders?

          1. JDX Gold badge

            Re: Clearly Fake

            What's that got to do with religion? Seems to me you're just looking for excuses to start a secular rant against an argument nobody has made ;)

      2. B Candler Silver badge

        Re: Clearly Fake

        According to the BBC's report you're not alone: "Scientists have remarked that the rover's surroundings resembled parts of the southwestern US."

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19244888

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: Clearly Fake

          Maybe just a honest mistake...

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shot_an_Arrow_into_the_Air

  10. Critical

    Not really its Operating System...

    The Curiosity runs VxWorks as its OS, and the JPL's flight software runs on top of that. The application layer is being upgraded.

  11. Jet Set Willy

    Tourist?

    "Martian robot tourist" - more like "Martian robot immigrant" because it ain't coming back.

    1. Oliver Mayes

      Re: Tourist?

      I'd like to think that one of the first manned missions would recover the rovers for them to be brought back as heroes.

    2. John 62
      Happy

      Re: Tourist?

      Robot Tourist by Ten Benson is one of my favourite songs of all time :D

  12. Annwyn

    Amazing pics, but...

    I've just been checking out the "First Hi-Res Color Mosaic of Curiosity's Mastcam Images" on the NASA site and is it just me, or do the "The black areas [indicating] images not yet returned by the rover." look more like redaction than missing data?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Amazing pics, but...

      http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/676004main_pia16051-fullportal_full.jpg

      Definitely redaction, there are clearly items of interest in the blacked out sections.... Let the conspiracy begin!

    2. BlinkenLights

      Re: Amazing pics, but...

      Not redaction, just not wasting bandwidth by sending back high-res pics of the rover.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Re: Amazing pics, but...

        Hiding the Truth about Space Nazis, more like.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks like Earth

    ... in that there are no harsh shadows and the sky is not black. This is presumably because of the martian atmosphere. But I'm surprised because the atmospheric pressure there is less than 1% of earth's. Perhaps daytime photos will look less earth-like.

    1. Paul Kinsler

      Re: Looks like Earth

      It's worth noting that long-exposure photos of te (earth) night sky aren't black either - wait long enough and they look quite a nice daytime light blue colour (source: an OPN article a few years back, doi:10.1364/OPN.16.11.000018 )

      1. ian mccallion

        Re: Looks like Earth

        Nice to know, but I don't find it surprising. It does point up that we don't know light level and exposure time time of the Mars photos, and we are perhaps being tricked in seeing earth-like qualities.

        1. Zot
          Thumb Up

          Re: Looks like Earth

          The scary thing is, if they discover water then they are then going to suggest it was very much another Earth.

          Which of course will get the 'look what we're doing to our own planet' brigade out on the streets again - "It will turn into Mars if we don't save it" - etc, etc.

  14. johnnymotel
    FAIL

    oh dear...

    if the rocks are just below the surface, there goes the allotment plans.

    1. Mr Young
      Thumb Up

      Re: oh dear...

      Good for foundations though - needed for the nuke plants, houses, pubs etc

  15. Anonymous John

    Patch Monday.

    One day ahead of schedule then.

  16. Slx

    Is an OS upgrade not risky at that distance?

    What I don't understand is why NASA would even risk an OS upgrade on a probe on Mars?

    Surely you'd want a system like that 100% tested, tried, approved, validated, validated again and then validated a third time for good luck!

    What if the OS upgrade had bricked the rover?!

    1. Mr Young

      Re: Is an OS upgrade not risky at that distance?

      Doesn't Curiousty have ROM? The upgrade probably can't brick our trusty new robot - it'll just have a wee break while the metric version is downloaded?

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Is an OS upgrade not risky at that distance?

      Since they are upgrading the software literally the moment it lands, I'm also confused why they didn't do it before take-off, considering how far ahead everything is planned.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Is an OS upgrade not risky at that distance?

        Maybe someone did a jail break along the way and they were afraid that it would be used to download illegal mp3's

    3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Is an OS upgrade not risky at that distance?

      > Surely you'd want a system like that 100% tested, tried, approved, validated, validated again and then validated a third time for good luck!

      This is rather exactly what happens in the lab. Then the transmitted data is checksummed to hell and back.

      This ain't Apple.

      Still, does anyone remember the PRIORITY INVERSION PROBLEM THAT AFFECTED MARS PATHFINDER, HMMM? HMMMMM??

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Roaming charges

    Can't be on O2; the data roaming charges for getting the OS upgrade would have bankrupted NASA...

  18. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    "resembled parts of the southwestern US."

    Red states?

    No aliens allowed?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what

    Although I was a lowly computer programmer, I am wondering why this upgrade wasn't done before lift off? If something happened like errrr it blue screened, it would have been a easy and less embarrassing fix to have done all of this BEFORE they launched. donno.

  20. Alistair MacRae
    Happy

    Glad the update worked.

    It'd be most sad to 'brick' the machine in the first week.

  21. Alfred Pimble
    Paris Hilton

    No geologists online today?

    Clastic rocks, fine. Carstic rocks (so labelled when hovering over the image), I very much doubt.

    Is the error with El Reg, or with NASA?

    Paris, because, well, blindly following what your speelchucker tells you is just wrong.

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