Skip to Content
Uncategorized

Long Distance Tech Support

If you’ve had to spend hours on the phone with a technical support center to solve a problem with a computer or other electronics products–and who hasn’t, these days–then you can sympathize with the engineers at JPL who had to…
February 15, 2004

If you’ve had to spend hours on the phone with a technical support center to solve a problem with a computer or other electronics products–and who hasn’t, these days–then you can sympathize with the engineers at JPL who had to deal with the faulty computer problem on the Mars rover Spirit a few weeks ago. As this Associated Press article points out, the engineers dealing with Spirit’s computer glitch had the additional issues of remotely diagnosing a problem with a computer that was, along with the nearest human tech support, nearly 200 million kilometers away. They were aided by the fact that the operating system the rover’s computer was using, VxWorks, was not only flight tested on previous missions, it was in widespread commercial use here on Earth in everything from aircraft to pacemakers. The problem with Spirit’s computer–too many files on the rover’s flash memory taking up space in RAM when the computer tried to boot up–was eventually diagnosed and solved. It was something engineers admit they overlooked on the ground in testing before launch, but given tight schedules they didn’t have the time to perform all the tests they wanted. Fortunately for the rover it had a good tech support hotline to call.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.