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NASA Celebrates Curiosity's Fourth Year On Mars With a Game (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the happy-anniversary dept.

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Engadget: In honor of Curiosity's fourth year on Mars, NASA has released a game. Engadget reports: "The glitch that shut down Curiosity in July was thankfully a temporary issue, else NASA would have mourned its loss rather than celebrating the rover's fourth year on Mars by releasing a game. It's simply called Mars Rover, and it's probably your only chance to pilot Curiosity. Mars Rover has a pretty straightforward gameplay -- you just have to press arrow keys to drive the vehicle and find underground pockets of water -- but it's harder than it seems. The virtual rover's wheels crack and break if they slam hard against rocks or heels, and when they do, it's game over. NASA derived these mechanics from Curiosity's actual mission and experiences on Mars."

35 comments

  1. Sick Of It by sexconker · · Score: 0

    People used to test their shit in multiple browsers. Now people just assume that if it works in Chrome it's done.

    FF does nothing.
    IE works mostly but the game will get stuck at certain points and you won't be able to use the interface or the shortcut keys to restart it.
    I assume Chome works.

    1. Re:Sick Of It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Works on Firefox for me. You might have to enable WebGL or something?

      It's cute, but it's not a very good game. The rover lacks the power to climb a hill faster than the screen advances, causing unavoidable losses. Sometimes wheels break even when they're in the air. Sometimes there are depressions where you can't survive a jump over and can't go cautiously fast enough to stay ahead of the screen advance. Play Moon Patrol instead, it's the same idea but way more fun. (But it's not from NASA!)

    2. Re:Sick Of It by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      FF does nothing.

      Works fine in Firefox, actually, I was playing it there. Had a few scripts you had to enable (I use NoScript) but there was nothing particularly sketchy about the ones you enabled...

    3. Re:Sick Of It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're not missing anything. The 'game' is complete crap anyway, and not even good for 20 seconds worth of entertainment.

    4. Re:Sick Of It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Works for me on FF 47.0, on Linux Mint no less. So either they fixed it within that past few hours, or you're doing something wrong.

    5. Re:Sick Of It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm using Firefox, and the top speed of the rover seems to be about a third of what it needs to be to keep up with the camera.
      I have to agree with GP, insufficient testing was done.

    6. Re:Sick Of It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      People used to test their shit in multiple browsers. Now people just assume that if it works in Chrome it's done.

      Nah, we still test in Internet Explorer and other browsers people actually use.

      Firefox's basic problem is two-fold: first, its shrinking market-share, and secondly, its just compatible enough with Chrome that it's not worth testing specifically in Firefox.

      The basic process these days is "design in Chrome, test in various IEs, ship." If it breaks in Firefox - who cares? The remaining Firefox users are the types who likely have another browser installed they can - and will - use instead. They're the types with NoScript installed who are used to the web randomly breaking. If it breaks in Firefox, let the few remaining Firefox users find and report the bug.

      It's just not worth the time testing because the chances are high enough that it'll work in Firefox if it works in Chrome and the number of people using Firefox is small enough that it just isn't worth seeing if you found some edge case where stuff that works in Chrome doesn't work in Firefox. You probably haven't, meaning that 95% of the time, testing in Firefox is wasted effort to support some tiny fraction of your user base.

      But there's a third problem that seals the "don't test in Firefox" decision: their decision to try and be more compatible with Chrome. Doesn't work in Firefox but it does work in Chrome? You can just blame Firefox itself.

  2. NASA should shut down by elcor · · Score: 1

    So that its engineer can go organic farming, or raising koalas and making cute mobile games.

    1. Re:NASA should shut down by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      It's called marketing. For NASA to release games is about helping recruit new employees, children who plan their future around joining NASA. Promoting public interests also reassures citizens of value for their investment into a future in space.

      This game however is not very good in that regard as it is not very sciency, NASA shoul endeavour to ensure the games they release to promote interest, promote interest in science, in space exploration and space settlement.

      So say, managing a space station, supplies and people up and refuse down etc or space travel in terms of plotting trajectories based upon take off points and desired target destination or designing a moon base. The games should not just be gains but should engage those who will be the future of NASA.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  3. Moon lander by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That old moon lander game already proved I can land better than space-x. This game might just prove I'm the greatest living human on earth.

    1. Re:Moon lander by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Moon lander had moving platforms pitching in the ocean? I must have missed something.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  4. No by burbilog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People used to test their shit in multiple browsers. Now people just assume that if it works in Chrome it's done.

    No. People used to test their shit in IE 6.0 and assumed that all screens are 1024 pixels wide.

    Nothing changed, really.

  5. Moon Patrol? by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 2

    This looks almost like William's Moon Patrol arcade video game! It used to be one of my favorites from the 80's...

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    1. Re:Moon Patrol? by Solandri · · Score: 1

      You can still play it.

    2. Re:Moon Patrol? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be sure to have sub-games within the game. Nuclear war might break out, wiping out civilization. Never short on ego, the story of man must be told, whether or not there is anyone left to watch it. You get to write the story of man, broadcast as an endlessly repeating series of cartoons from the Mars Orbiter.

      An example broadcast - It's the 1970's again, an Wiley Coyote is chasing the Roadrunner around the Southwestern U.S. He never quite gets that clever bird, but gives it a try when a package comes from Acme Plowshare Projects Inc containing the nuclear fracking kit. He slides the contraption down a hole but our favorite bird is unphased by the shake and quake.
      The segment closes with the roadrunner setting up a roadside stand and selling maps to the Methane Hot Spot. It's very popular with tourists from Porter Ranch.

      Nothing like a few good cartoons to memorialize silly things man did, like those Nuclear Fracking experiments.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      http://www.pbs.org/newshour/up...

    3. Re:Moon Patrol? by antdude · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but no cool music, shooting, UFOs, etc.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  6. It's ExciteRover! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The way the game kind of plays along with the orange color palette. First thought was Excitebike.

  7. There is also that PHOBOS FPS mission simulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rumors of a similar game for the pending Phobos mission are dismissed as untrue, that there was "no accident". You simply have to find out what went wrong. To make sure you will succeed though, you have been tasked as a ba ttle armor-clad space marine, and armed with a 12-gauge shotgun. "For those close encounters" Other details were fuzzy, and the words suicide mission were accidentally misheard in casual conversation.

    the captcha being clarify is purely coincidental

  8. Mars and the Furious by geekmux · · Score: 1

    "...but it's harder than it seems. The virtual rover's wheels crack and break if they slam hard against rocks or heels, and when they do, it's game over. NASA derived these mechanics from Curiosity's actual mission and experiences on Mars."

    Well that's certainly one way to crowdsource the next Dominic Toretto to work for NASA.

    How fast can you go from zero to Enders Game...

  9. There is a reason. by pthfdr · · Score: 0

    The game is written poorly because it is not necessary to be written well.
    Such games are just propagandas of the "gavenmengte" and tell their meanings by their existence.
    Fight against corruption?They made a game.
    Anti-money-laundering?They made a game.
    They made their games and do not care a damn about how well they were written.
    Just propagandas.
    ^D

    1. Re: There is a reason. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These government fcktards are wasting my taxes on making garbage games. Losers.

  10. Permissions by ggendel · · Score: 1

    Why does a game like this need to have access to all your contacts? I'll load it when I can block this kind of nonsense.

  11. Re:It's on Devon Island, not Mars. by nintendoeats · · Score: 1

    Oh. Good.

  12. It only fails if you turn it on by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    The virtual rover's wheels crack and break if they slam hard against rocks

    Really? That's the best wheel your NASA money could come up with?

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:It only fails if you turn it on by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      The problem is more complicated than that sentence makes it sound. Over time (Curiosity's been there for ~4 years now) the wheels accumulate damage when they drive over rocks. This accumulation is faster than they'd predicted based on years of experience with Spirit and Opportunity, because of the larger size and weight of Opportunity and because it's being driven over much rockier terrain than the earlier rovers.
      Based on the accumulation of damage after 1-2 years they had to alter the mission plan somewhat, changing the route to more sandy places.
      The problem is the weight of the wheels is highly constrained. They were already close to the maximum possible mission weight so there was very little scope for improvement. Making the wheels heavier would have had knock-on effects. The rover was stowed in a folded state and had to unfold just before landing. That unfolding involved dropping the wheels through an arc without any damping. Making the wheels any heavier would have made that drop induce more force on the attachment points than they could handle.

      With the benefit of hindsight, they could have built more resilient wheels. But that would have meant redesigning half the rover. Deep space exploration is just that, exploration. You will come across circumstances you could not have predicted. Live with it.

  13. Latency by colinrichardday · · Score: 1

    How well does the game model the latencies between Earth and Mars? It takes at least ten minutes for a signal to travle from Earth to Mars. Or are they using subspace?

    1. Re:Latency by colinrichardday · · Score: 1

      Earth to Mars and back, sorry.

  14. Where's the source? by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    As a US taxpayer, I helped pay for this. Where is the source code so I can learn from it or make it better/different? NASA and other US government agencies have a long track record of paying a lot for programs made by third-parties that are not made available under FLOSS licenses.

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
    1. Re:Where's the source? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, this is not the 80's/90's. That conceptualization of America died. And the ADA now says that flossing is no longer necessarily advisable. NASA is now a propaganda machine to feed the corporate privatization of spaceflight. Individual liberty died somewhere around the time the author of this summary thought a curiosity rover video game on slashdot was the only time we'd ever get a "chance to pilot Curiosity" . . . even though, you know, it's just a video game, and we're on slashdot where at least 65% of the visitors could make it themselves.

  15. Down The Link Hole by crow_t_robot · · Score: 1

    Why post a link to an article that talks about the game when you can just post a link to the fucking game and save everyone some time and sanity?

    1. Re:Down The Link Hole by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      You know, that's exactly what I thought. But this being slashdot, and me being about 3 days behind on my reading, I expected that someone would have provided the link. Instead of just complaining about the lack of a link. So, here's the link.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  16. WTF Controls?!? by Keybounce · · Score: 1

    So let me see if I understand this game:

    1. Left/right do not move you left and right; they tilt your front up and down.
    2. Up and down do not tilt your front up and down, so you can maneuver around rocks and potholes; they move you forward and backwards.
    3. Although the real rover is driven slowly, and you can pause and think, this is an arcade game, and as soon as you start moving, you have to maintain at least 55 MPH or you go kaboom.
    4. Your forward vision is artificially restricted to barely a second of motion so you can't even be aware of problems in advance.
    5. The real rover can turn. But instead of a "rover-eye's view", showing you a field that you could turn left or right in, all you can do is straight, or slow down and die, or run fast ahead and crash.
    6. The actual map is constant, so it's a matter of memorizing when to lift, when to speed up, when to coast, etc.
    7. It has more in common with managing your way through Scramble's later maps, at higher difficulty levels, than with piloting a real-life rover
    8. And ... I had to enable how many things from NoScript before I could even get to the game, and then a bunch more to play the game?

    Sheesh.
    Did someone post a link to Moon Rover?