A NASA probe circling Mars is back at full strength as researchers ponder its past views of possible cave entrances on the red planet’s surface.
The agency’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft resumed science operations this week after spending several days in ‘safe mode’ due to a Sept. 14 software glitch. While in safe mode, a precautionary configuration designed to preserve the orbiter’s health during a glitch, engineers on Earth methodically restored Odyssey’s onboard systems.
“The spacecraft reacted exactly as it was designed to for this condition,” said Robert Mase, NASA’s Odyssey mission manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., earlier this week.