space-sense

the rovers have to fly through millions of miles of deep space and target a very precise spot to land. Adjustments to their flight paths can be made along the way, but a small trajectory error can result in a big detour and or even missing the planet completely. The space environment isn't friendly. Hazards range from what engineers call "single event upsets," as when a stray particle of energy passes through a chip in the spacecraft's computer causing a glitch and possibly corrupting data, to massive solar flares, such as the ones that occurred this fall, that can damage or even destroy spacecraft electronics.

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