Due to social distancing caused by the novel coronavirus, people are now forced to work from home. Emails and video conferencing have managed to fill and bridge the gap. The same thing goes for the team behind The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Curiosity Mars Rover; they continue to operate on Mars from the comfort of their own homes.
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NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover is being operated by its team from the comfort of their homes
Last March 20, the entire team was not present at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the current mission is based. This was the first time that the rover's operations were prepared and planned while the team was entirely out of the office.
Two days after this, the commands that the team sent to Mars were accomplished as expected and resulted in the Curiosity Rover drilling rock samples at a location called "Edinburgh." They eventually anticipated that they needed to go fully remote for at least a couple of weeks which made them rethink how they would continue to operate the mission.
They will now be using ordinary equipment while at home
Equipment like monitors, headsets, and others was distributed to them. However, not everything that they have been using during their mission at JPL could come home with them.
However, they do rely on 3D images from the planet and study them through very special goggles that shift between eye views which helps them figure out where to drive Curiosity and how far they can extend the robotic arm.
For them to operate and view 3D images on regular and ordinary laptops, they needed to switch to simple red and blue 3D glasses. Although it is not as immersive or comfortable as their official goggles, they still work well for planning drives and arm movements on the rover.
Hardware is only part of the entire equation; they still need a lot of logistical adjustments to drive the rover. Usually, the members at JPL work with numerous scientists at research institutions globally to decide where to drive Curiosity. Working at home far away from those scientists is not really new, but it does take a toll.
The leader of the team, Alicia Allbaugh, said that "We're usually all in one room, sharing screens, images, and data. People are talking in small groups and to each other from across the room."
They also do the typical video conferences and rely on messaging applications. And it does take extra effort for them to make sure that they understand one another. "I probably monitor about 15 chat channels at all times, You're juggling more than you normally would. I still do my normal routine, but virtually. It's classic, textbook NASA, we're presented with a problem and we figure out how to make things work. Mars isn't standing still for us; we're still exploring."
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