NASA Puts Mars Rover Curiosity on Standby After Solar Flare
NASA's Curiosity rover has powered down to wait out a Mars-bound
solar blast, complicating efforts to bring the 1-ton robot back
from a computer glitch. Curiosity's handlers put the rover on
standby after the sun unleashed a medium-strength flare in the
Red Planet's direction Tuesday (March 5). It's the second recent
shutdown for Curiosity, which had just come out of protective
"safe mode" Saturday (March 2) as engineers work through an
issue with its primary computer system. "Storm's a-comin'!
There's a solar storm heading for Mars. I'm going back to sleep
to weather it out," NASA officials wrote on behalf of the rover
via Curiosity's Twitter feed today (March 6). The rover team
views the shutdown as merely a precaution, as Curiosity was
designed to withstand such solar outbursts, the Associated Press
reported. But the move could delay the rover's return to science
operations, which had been anticipated as early as this weekend.
Curiosity landed ins