Managers of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover mission expect to approve resumption of rover arm movements as early as next week while continuing analysis of what appears to be an intermittent short circuit in the drill. A fluctuation in current on Feb. 27 triggered a fault-protection response that immediately halted action by the rover during the mission’s 911th Martian day, or sol…
“Diagnostic testing this week has been productive in narrowing the possible sources of the transient short circuit,” said Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “The most likely cause is an intermittent short in the percussion mechanism of the drill. After further analysis to confirm that diagnosis, we will be analyzing how to adjust for that in future drilling.” [More at link]