NASA is working on fixing the issue they faced recently with Curiosity Mars rover and its disabled arm. The U.S. space agency confirmed that they are expecting to resume the arm movement this week all the while continuing to analyze what appeared to be a sporadic electrical short circuit.
It was on the mission’s 911th Martian day that Curiosity Mars rover was faced with this unfortunate incident. Instability in current activated a fault-protection response which instantaneously stopped the progress of the rover, as it was supposed to in case of any mishaps.
Ever since the 27th of February, the rover team on Earth had been abstaining themselves from piloting Curiosity or causing any movement in the rover’s arm and meanwhile engineers have been focusing on running diagnostic tests to identify why it really happened.
The observations with instruments on the rover’s mast are being carried on along with the weather station monitoring the environmental condition.
The project manager of Curiosity, Jim Erickson of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, said “Diagnostic testing this week has been productive in narrowing the possible sources of the transient short circuit.”
He further added, “The most likely cause is an intermittent short in the percussion mechanism of the drill. After further analysis to confirm that diagnosis, we will be analyzing how to adjust for that in future drilling.”
The sample-collection drill on Curiosity rover’s robotic arm employs being rotated as well hammered or smashing if necessary to make a way into Martian rocks for collecting pulverized rock material and conveying it to analytical instruments that is situated inside the rover.
The scientists inform that the short circuit took place while the rover was on the process of moving rock-powder sample from the channel of the drill into an apparatus which is responsible for sieving and portioning this rock-powder.
It is anticipated that when the issue gets fixed, Curiosity will resume ascending Mount Sharp.
NASA has employed Curiosity for the sole purpose of assessing ancient habitable environments and the most significant transformations in the environmental condition of the Martian lands.
