Hasta La Gadget!

NASA is attempting to fix a power glitch it discovered in the nuclear power plant of the $2.3 billion Mars Science Laboratory, the next rover scheduled to explore Mars, Space.com reports.

NASA plans to launch Curiosity in 2011; the rover received a new name after the agency held a nationwide student contest last year. But just recently, the agency found a “slightly faster than expected degradation rate” in the rover’s radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which will boost the craft’s range and overall lifetime on the red planet.

The generator uses 10 pounds of plutonium dioxide, mostly plutonium-238, as a heat source, the report said. A NASA engineer said that the agency is currently working with the Department of Energy to understand the problem. So far, the only expected impact (if left unfixed) is that the rover will need a few extra operational workarounds during the Martian winter.