Washington: NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has experienced a glitch which has resulted in ceasing all roving and science operations.
According to JPL news release, on Curiosity's 456th day on Mars, mission managers were alerted by a "voltage change" between the rover's chassis and 32-volt power bus that distributes electricity to systems throughout the rover, Discovery News reported.
Jim Erickson, Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory revealed that the vehicle is safe, stable and fully capable of operating in its present condition, but added that they are taking precaution and investigating the "soft short".
However, there is "no indication" to suggest that this event has any connection to Curiosity's safe-mode that was triggered by a computer re-boot earlier this month and may not cause widespread damage.
A "soft" short is caused when a small amount of electricity leaks through a material that's partially conductive, bleeding some power from a system, which can result in a drop in power that may not otherwise be explained.
