Spacecraft Is 'In Communication And Fully Powered' JPL Says

NASA's long-lived Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into a precautionary safe standby mode March 9 after an unscheduled swap from one main computer to another. The mission's ground team has begun restoring the spacecraft to full operations.

"The spacecraft is healthy, in communication and fully powered," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Manager Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. "We have stepped up the communication data rate, and we plan to have the spacecraft back to full operations within a few days."

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's science observations and its relaying of communications from NASA's two active Mars rovers have been suspended. The rovers continue to use NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter as a communications relay.

Entry into safe mode is the prescribed response by a spacecraft when it detects conditions outside the range of normal expectations. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has experienced unplanned computer swaps triggering safe-mode entry four times previously, most recently in November 2011. The root cause of the previous events has not been determined. The spacecraft has also experienced safe-mode entries that have not involved computer swaps.

Unlike any previous safe-mode entries experienced in this mission, the March 9 event included a swap to a redundant radio transponder on the orbiter. While the mission resumes operations with this transponder, engineers are investigating the status of the one that is now out of service.

(Image provided by NASA)

FMI: www.nasa.gov/mro