Pathfinder Glitch Found

NASA engineers have solved the software problem that caused several resets of the overloaded Mars Pathfinder computer and slowed transmission of pictures and other data to Earth.

The engineers will radio up a software change on Saturday, project manager Brian Muirhead said Thursday.

In the interim, they’ll continue to have the computer perform tasks one-at-a-time, which so far has averted resets like those that has twice slowed down the project.

The Pathfinder rover, meanwhile, has moved within a little more than 1-1/2 feet of the rock called Scooby Doo, Muirhead said.

“That’s where we wanted to go. We want to inch up on it,” he said.