Last week we had a rare event: HiRISE turned off! We call this safe mode, because it’s a safety measure built into the instrument’s software. Whenever any of the sensors starts going out of bounds, like temperatures or voltages, the instrument powers down to prevent damage to the electronics. In this case, one temperature sensor went over its upper limit of 35 degrees Celsius. It’s pretty disconcerting when something unexpected like this happens, but at least we know the instrument is protected.

We had the difficult detective job of figuring out what went wrong. It was clear early on that the instrument overheated, but we couldn’t figure out why. Our tool that predicts the temperatures (”HiTemp”) didn’t predict anything that hot. We didn’t take a really large image, which would heat us up (at least, nothing bigger than normal! ). The local operations team worked with the health & safety people, the spacecraft engineers at LMA, and some of the software developers at Ball Aerospace that originally designed HiRISE. Together we all investigated the problem.

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I’ve come to realize something over the past 24 hours—Mars is awesome. Every little piece of that planet is ten times more awesome than the previous, even if it’s one I just looked at fifteen minutes ago. I don’t know if that’s fractally, recursively, or circularly awesome, but I do know this: We’ve got a ton of people to thank for their, yes, awesome efforts. As HiRISE’s ground data system uplink software developer, I’ve got a handful I want to thank personally, if a blog can be considered personal.

Wayne Sydney (LMA) and Roy Gladden (JPL) taught me how to talk to our spacecraft. Ira Becker (BATC), Rick Battistelli (BATC), and Steve Tarr (BATC) taught me how to talk to our instrument. Peter Xayprayseuth (JPL) bends so far over backwards for us he appears to be standing upright. He and Curt Eggemeyer (JPL) make sure what I’m saying to the spacecraft isn’t complete gibberish. Mark Johnson (LMA) checked my math. Finally, Michael Weiss-Malik (ASU), Eric Engle (ASU), Saadat Anwar (ASU), and Noel Gorelick (ASU) built a fantastic piece of software for me to hook into for our observation planning.

There are dozens more, of course, but these are the ones that directly apply to me, and without them, none of this would have happened. So thanks, guys. If I were to wear a hat, it would be off to you.