Operational modification of the Mars exploration rovers´ flight software

Author

Greco, Martin E. ; Snyder, Joseph F.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

1

fYear

2005

fDate

10-12 Oct. 2005

Firstpage

8

Abstract

The Mars exploration rovers (MER) flight software (FSW) was designed from the outset to be modified during operations. Two principal methods were envisioned: modifying (patch) the existing image, or entirely replacing (load) the existing image with a new version. In fact, both methods have been successfully used since the rovers landed in January of 2004. This paper discusses the content of the uplink products that are sent to the rover, the planning of the patch and load activities, the testing of the products and procedures, and the actual operations themselves. Lessons learned and application to future missions are also discussed.

Keywords

Mars; aerospace computing; planetary rovers; Mars exploration rovers flight software; load operation; operational modification; operational procedure; patch operation; Aerospace electronics; Application software; EPROM; Laboratories; Mars; Nonvolatile memory; Propulsion; Rough surfaces; Software performance; Surface roughness; Flight software; load; modification; operational procedure; operations; patch;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 2005 IEEE International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9298-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSMC.2005.1571114

Filename

1571114