spacetoday.net: NASA to reformat Mars rover Opportunity's memory

Posted: Wed, Sep 3, 2014, 1:58 PM ET (1758 GMT)
Mars Exploration Rover (NASA/JPL)

NASA is making plans to reformat the flash memory on the rover Opportunity in response to an increasing number of computer resets the aging rover has suffered. Opportunity suffered a dozen such resets in August alone, which take one to two days to recover from, interfering with the rover's scientific activities. Engineers suspect worn out cells in the flash memory modules are causing the resets, and reformatting the memory will allow them to identify those cells. The reformatting is planned for early this month. Key flight software is stored elsewhere and won't be affected by the reformatting. Opportunity is one of two Mars Exploration Rovers that landed on Mars in early 2004 for what was initially planned to be only a 90-day mission.