Dawn falling late: NASA's other glitch of the week While the world was distracted by New Horizons' brief woes, NASA also had to put its Dawn spacecraft into a holding pattern to work out a software glitch. Dawn, which is fascinating the world with its shots of Ceres – and exciting boffins and conspiracists alike with its shots of the dwarf planet's bright spots, is currently …
Pretty much any spacecraft "we" have out there has, at one point or another, entered safemode. It's to be expected with all the cosmic radiation blowing through them at all time. It's why the backup system is there in the first place. Spirit, Oppertunity and Curiosity all have been running on the backup at one point or another for instance.
Just because that's true doesn't mean our probes are NOT under alien attack.
Mike: Maybe you shouldn't have poured all of that washing-up liquid into it.
Vyvyan: It says here "ensure machine is clean and free from dust"!
Mike: Yeah, but it don't say "ensure machine is full of washing-up liquid"!
Vyvyan: Yeah, but it doesn't say "ensure machine isn't full of washing-up liquid"!
Mike: Well, it wouldn't would it? I mean, it doesn't say "ensure you don't chop up your video machine with an axe, put all the bits in a plastic bag and bung them down the lavatory!"
Vyvyan: Doesn't it? Well maybe that's where we're going wrong!
What we really need is... the ability to spray-paint the word 'mine' on everything our probes & rovers meet. Then at some point in the future, we could get someone famous, I'm thinking Patrick Stewart or Martin Sheen, to just read their way down the list. 'Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine...'
Yes, I have been watching Finding Nemo, why?
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