Rover Reboots 23 Hours After Phoning Tech Support
(2004-05-18) — Almost a day after phoning tech support to solve a software glitch, NASA’s Mars Rover rebooted this morning and seems to be functioning normally.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said the Rover dialed the tech support number for the vendor of its operating system software late Sunday night, but the automated phone system notified the Rover that “due to the unusually high call volume your estimated time on hold will be 72 hours, six minutes, 33 seconds.”
“Actually, we were delighted that the Rover was able to get through to a tech support representative in only 23 hours,” said an unnamed JPL spokesman. “There was an initial bit of confusion due to the Rover’s difficulty comprehending the tech guy’s Indian accent, but after the trouble ticket was written and the issue escalated only twice, the Rover was told to hold down its Control, Alt and Delete keys simultaneously. That did the trick.”
The JPL source said the Rover spent most of the 23-hour hold time listening to a MIDI version of The Girl from Ipanema, interrupted by periodic assurances that the Rover’s call was “important.”
Heh.
Heh….
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