1000 Sols And Counting...

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by dlavery

And yes, the rover team really did have to worry about the "Sol 1K Problem." When the rovers were designed, no one realistically thought that they would last more than a few hundred days. So the data structures, file systems, command structures, etc. were all designed the three-digit Sol counts. Well, the rovers surprised us, and Spirit has now crossed over the 1000-Sol threshold (Opportunity will do the same in three more weeks). In anticipation of that, we had to go back and check all the rover and ground support software to be sure that there would not be any unexpected surprises when the chronometer clicked over. But as of this evening, everything looks just fine and we are all set to trundle on through the next 1000 Sols....

-dave

Will the problem crop up at Sol 1024 (i.e., ten bit rollover)?

[Conor Ryan]

Sounds like the Mars version of the Y2K bug.


How many Miles has Spirit and Opportunity logged while on the Red planet?

[JohnBoucher]

WOW...... Congratulations NASA

[Barry Bonzack]

Saw this very amusing article on onion.com regarding the rovers' long stay on Mars, thought others may be interested.

Warning: Article contains some foul language and gestures that could be considered offensive. Link not suitable for all audiences. The article is neither gracious nor professional, and the author's grandmother most likely would not be proud.

Mars Rover Beginning to Hate Mars

[Wetzel]

Have you considered the 10,000 sol problem?

Wetzel

[dlavery]

And as a follow-up, today marks 1000 sols on the surface of Mars for Opportunity, the second rover of the Mars Exploration Rovers project. Not too bad for a machine that had it's warranty expire after 90 sols...

-dave