NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover can now drive faster
What's the story
NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover will be able to drive faster, thanks to the new software update that was installed on the robot.
The upgrade was installed between April 3 and April 7, causing the robot to temporarily pause its science and imaging operations.
The same upgrade will also help reduce wear and tear on the rover's wheels. In total, 180 changes were implemented.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars.
The rover landed on the Red Planet in August 2012. It set out with the objective of discovering if Mars ever had a suitable environment to support microbial life.
The car-sized rover is currently probing a region called Gale Crater and collects rock, soil, and air samples for onboard analysis.
Update
What improvements does the new software update bring?
Some of the upgrade's biggest changes will help keep the Curiosity "rolling more efficiently for years to come."
The latest update also adds certain corrections in the messages that the rover sends back to mission controllers on Earth, said NASA in a blog post.
Before this, Curiosity received a software upgrade in 2016. The new update has been in the works since then.
Improvements
Curiosity will be able to do more "thinking while driving"
The Curiosity Rover will now be able to do more of what the team calls "thinking while driving." This is something the Perseverance Rover could do in an "advanced way" as it trudges past rocks and sandy regions.
When Perseverance moves around, it constantly captures the terrain ahead. Its onboard dedicated computer processes the data, enabling it to "autonomously navigate during one continuous drive."
Image processing
The new software will help the rover process images faster
However, the Curiosity rover does not have a dedicated computer as Perseverance does.
The rover drives in segments, taking breaks to process the images taken of the terrain ahead after each segment.
This means, during long drives, the rover would have to start and stop repeatedly.
Here's where the new software comes in handy. The rover will now be able to process images faster.
Official words
Curiosity will be stopping for lesser time between drive segments
"This won't let Curiosity drive as quickly as Perseverance, but instead of stopping for a full minute after a drive segment, we're stopping for just a moment or two," said Jonathan Denison, from NASA.
"Spending less time idling between drive segments also means we use less energy each day...We're still implementing new ideas to use more of our available energy for science activities."
Reduced wear
The upgrade will help reduce the wear associated with steering
The new software also introduces two mobility commands which would bring down the "amount of steering Curiosity needs to do while driving in an arc toward a specific waypoint."
The team would be able to reach their drive target faster while reducing wear associated with steering.
The rover's aluminum wheels are sensitive to the sharp rocks that it encounters as it moves around Mars.
Software
Team will be able to upload software patches more easily
The new update will also help the ground team upload software patches more easily when compared to before.
The engineers will be able to guide the motions of Curiosity's robotic arm more efficiently and point its "head, located on the rover's mast, more accurately."
It was a major software update for the rover and the team is relieved to see everything work as designed.