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NASA Gives Mars Rover Extra Smarts

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the rover-that-keeps-on-giving dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA today said it upgraded the software controlling its Mars Rover Opportunity to let it make its own decisions about what items like rocks and interesting red planet formations to focus its cameras on. The new system, which NASA uploaded over the past few months, is called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS and it lets Opportunity's computer examine images that the rover takes with its wide-angle navigation camera after a drive, and recognize rocks that meet specified criteria, such as rounded shape or light color. It can then center its narrower-angle panoramic camera on the chosen target and take multiple images through color filters, NASA stated."

21 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. What's This Line in the Release Notes About? by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good upgrade but I really gotta question the added 'inferiority complex routine' listed in the release notes that requires the rover to periodically contemplate its ultimate fate and update a twitter feed where NASA engineers can either encourage the rover or ridicule it.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. I for one by c++0xFF · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...welcome our newly upgraded martian overlord.

  3. Technology behind this? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can anyone give any insight behind how they perform upgrades like this?

    I'm sure we all have a "friend" who has bricked a router doing something. Thankfully my Sheeva Plug has JTAG built in and was able to get to the interface through that.

    Send everything, checksum it and then flash? If something goes wrong (solar wind) is there a very basic firmware that sits and listens? Probably some basic security so the Chinese can't sit there and flood it with fake update requests?

    I'm sure stuff is a lot more fun when pings aren't measured in seconds or minutes.

    1. Re:Technology behind this? by NEDHead · · Score: 3, Funny

      Geek Squad goes on site, does a full backup, and certifies successful update.

    2. Re:Technology behind this? by Saishuuheiki · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, the code they're uploading would be higher-level processing that would just control what it does, not how it does it. Think of it as re-writing the main subroutine, but all the other functions are the same.

      No doubt then there's still error handling to escape the process to return to normal control, and the code-upload area would be separate so even if that part froze, you could overwrite it.

    3. Re:Technology behind this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please tell me it's a one-way trip.

    4. Re:Technology behind this? by robot256 · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are multiple levels of software on the rover. There is a failsafe module to turn everything off if it runs out of power, there is a bootloader OS to handle software crashes and give memory dumps to ground controllers, there is the main OS that runs the vehicle, and then there are scripts the main OS can run. This is one of the scripts.

      Note that the summary says they spent "months" uploading the new software--they did it very meticulously, in chunks, with checksums, and probably read back the whole memory before giving it execute permissions.

      If you were keeping up with the news when they launched the rovers, you might remember that they launched with only the bootloader installed--they actually uploaded the vehicle OS mid-flight before they reached Mars. So something like this isn't a big deal once it's been tested within an inch of its life to get "flight" qualified. The big deal is that they actually got it that far--NASA has historically been very reluctant to give their craft any more autonomy than absolutely necessary. Hopefully we are turning a corner on that.

    5. Re:Technology behind this? by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Informative

      Send everything, checksum it and then flash? If something goes wrong (solar wind) is there a very basic firmware that sits and listens?

      Probably something like:

      1. Verify the hell out of the code on an emulator.
      2. Verify the hell out of the code on the engineering testbed (a rover computer sitting on a table).
      3. Verify the hell out of the code on the engineering development rover (a real rover at JPL running on various simulated terrains).
      4. Send everything, twice. Compare one copy to the other. Checksum each copy received twice. Send the checksums to Earth twice. After receiving the enable and execute codes (which have protections of their own) from Earth, flash it from data storage into firmware. Checksum the firmware twice. After receiving the enable and execute codes from Earth (which have protections of their own), transfer control to the new software (keeping in mind the OS is robust and has various protection features of it's own to prevent apps from bricking the computer and limited protect against trashing the rover).

       
      Seriously, the only people who take validating the code and the authority to execute it more seriously than NASA are the guys at the launch control consoles out in the missile silos and SSBNs.
       
      But they don't beat NASA by much. NASA's unmanned branch does take lessons learned pretty seriously (they've bricked probes before), and when the budget allows does things the right way.

    6. Re:Technology behind this? by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Informative

      They upload the new program, it sits in storage and then is checked, if OK then they schedule a time to do the software install. if the software installs wrong it falls back to the last known good program.

      It's like a motherboard with "crash proof" or "dual bios" but with a lot of checking and waiting and testing.

      That's the 10,000 foot view of how it works, you can find online a more detailed article on how the rovers are designed.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. One down, one still very good to go. by JoshuaZ · · Score: 3

    I'm amazed at how long Spirit and Opportunity have lasted. Spirit is stuck in place but is still giving us very good data and Opportunity is still kicking and researching well. Aside from some minor problems with the robotic arm, Opportunity is doing fine. These missions have now lasted years when they were expected to last 90 days. These are really amazing pieces of engineering and I hope that NASA is taking a lot of notes about them for how to design future probes. The engineers who made these must be very proud. And now one of their two babies is getting to make decisions for itself! Awww...

    1. Re:One down, one still very good to go. by beakerMeep · · Score: 3, Funny

      Just wait, another year or two it will be asking to borrow the car.

      --
      meep
  5. Awesome by Rival · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The autonomy of these rovers is already quite impressive, as they can choose parts of their paths based on a braveness variable provided by the engineers.

    This latest enhancement is really interesting, essentially giving them something of a sense of curiosity. I'm not trying to anthropomorphize; the rovers are now allowed to use some sort of Bayesian-like algorithms for determining objects of interest, and examining them without direct input from us. This gives them the potential for returning more scientifically interesting information for the communication cycle.

    Way to go, NASA! You guys rock!

  6. It's amazing to me by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... that they can do a software upgrade of this kind adding a major feature such as this, remotely, without "bricking" it, and without the ability to add more CPU or RAM. Amazing job, guys!

    --
    We apologize for the inconvenience.
    1. Re:It's amazing to me by mcgrew · · Score: 2, Insightful

      that they can do a software upgrade of this kind adding a major feature such as this, remotely, without "bricking" it, and without the ability to add more CPU or RAM.

      What's more amazing to me is the fact that a multibillion dollar software company can't.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
  7. Re:AEGIS by Jainith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science

    Clearly from the lameness of the title they chose the acronym first and then found a title to fit it. Why anyone would think its appropriate to use the acronym AEGIS for something that doesn't involve defense or a shield I dont know.

  8. AEGIS by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    Another Excuse to Get Itself Stuck

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  9. Re:Gumption, Destiny, Resolve, Prosperity... by LWATCDR · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well yes they are very successful but I think you may be forgetting Voyager which was unbelievably successful and Pioneer 11 and 12 which are still ticking over as they coast out of the Solar System.
    Not to mention Viking, and Hubble.
    All of these projects have been extremely successful projects.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  10. I'm in acronym hell. by sammy+baby · · Score: 3, Funny

    The new system, which NASA uploaded over the past few months, is called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS and...

    Well, thank god it's gathering increased science. I would hate to think that we were collecting decreased science. Perhaps we could design a program and call it Autonomous System for Scientific and HOlistic Learning and Exploration.

    Then again, we could have called it Rover OS 2.0.

  11. 4 to 20 minutes for data to travel ? by ls671 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It takes 4 to 20 minutes for data to travel between Earth and Mars (each way) depending on the planet positions.

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/137509/coolest_tech_jobs_driving_the_mars_rover.html

    Still, Mars is one of the closest planet to Earth. It looks like we will need to find some kind of warp driven data transfer mechanism to network the planets and take full advantage of IPv6 for real time applications. ;-)

    Achieving warp speed for data transfer should be easier than for matter and human beings so I suggest we look at this first. ;-))

    --
    Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
  12. 2020 by sohp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Newsflash: A mysterious intelligent probe calling itself "O'nity" is threatening Earth. Scientists say that it is demanding access to "interesting rocks and formations"

  13. Re:Gumption, Destiny, Resolve, Prosperity... by camperdave · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Um... Contact was lost with Pioneer 11 in 1995. Pioneer 12 ran out of fuel and crashed into Venus in 1992. Viking 1's antenna pointing software was accidentally overwritten in 1982, and Viking 2's batteries died in 1980 after only three years. Voyager 1 and 2 are still "ticking over" as you say, making them the longest running space probes.

    But is longevity the measure of success? What about capturing the public's imagination? One could argue that despite their much shorter "lifespan", Spirit and Opportunity have done more to boost interest in Space than Voyagers 1 and 2 have.

    My question remains, though. Why haven't we launched a few more of these rovers.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!