News: NEW SPACECRAFT SOFTWARE ALLOWS AUTONOMOUS DECISIONS

Mars rovers will soon get software upgrades that allow them to scan through data they have collected and send only the most significant data back to Earth, maximizing the scientific return from the missions, NASA says. New algorithms will give the robots' computers the ability to search through their images to find those that feature specific, usually transient, phenomena such as clouds and dust devils, NASA says, a capability that the agency plans to add to future robotic craft, since almost all instruments can collect more information than can be beamed back to Earthbound scientists. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has been mapping the Red Planet since 2001, will get new autonomous flight software later this year, the agency says, giving the satellite the ability to react to sudden changes on the Martian surface. Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5022524.stm