It’s tough enough in the first place needing to drive an astronomically costly rover around a planet millions of miles away. Doing it from house seems like a quite big ask– but it ends up NASA’s Interest team depends on it.
The space agency published today about how the group has actually adapted to the unmatched circumstance of needing to manage an essential, ongoing mission involving hundreds of individuals, with no of those people conference in person.
” We’re normally all in one space, sharing screens, images and data,” stated group lead Alicia Allbaugh. Now they’re not just in separate rooms, however on different schedules and computing setups. “I probably keep an eye on about 15 chat channels at all times. You’re juggling more than you typically would.”
Naturally there are video calls, too– sometimes several at once. Procedures previously achieved on high-performance workstations are now being done on laptops and web services. But while the added intricacy makes the planning process less effective, the results are still rolling in.
In mid-March, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory offices in Pasadena, Calif., had currently been completely cleared of staff and work was suspended somewhere else. Curiosity was still trucking. It increased to a rock, drilled a sample and sent out verification back to the group– simply as it would if they were all working as normal. And the work continues.
” Mars isn’t standing still for us; we’re still exploring,” said Allbaugh.
