spacetoday.net: Curiosity rover resumes science operations

Posted: Thu, Mar 28, 2013, 7:34 AM ET (1134 GMT)
MSL self-portrait, November 2012 (NASA/JPL)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity resumed science operations this week after overcoming some technical problems, but will soon go on hiatus because of a break in communications. Project officials said Monday that the rover had resumed science operations, including delivering a second powdered rock sample to the rover's instruments for analysis. Operations had been suspended after a computer glitch on February 28 that forced controllers to switch to a backup computer. A software problem earlier in the month also briefly put the rover into safe mode. Normal operations of the rover will continue until April 4, when a moratorium on communications will begin as Mars passes behind the Sun as seen from Earth. That moratorium will continue until May 1.