The Mars orbiter has temporarily stopped relaying data after an unexpected glitch that put the spacecraft into "safe mode."
The probe's handlers are working to resume operations after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suddenly switched from one main computer to another, Space.com reported.
At the moment, the orbiter is not sending data from NASA's two active Mars rovers, but officials say it will be up and running again soon.
"The spacecraft is healthy, in communication and fully powered," MRO project manager Dan Johnston, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement, as quoted by Space.com. "We have stepped up the communication data rate, and we plan to have the spacecraft back to full operations within a few days."
The last glitch was in November 2011, according to NASA. When spacecraft comes across an "anomalous condition," they usually go into safe mode. This recent switch was the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's fifth time going into safe mode after unexpected computer swaps, Space.com reported.
In its eight years traveling around the Red Planet, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has garnered more scientific data than all other space missions combined, NASA officials told Space.com.
Launching in August 2005 and reaching Mars in March 2006, the probe's mission cost $720 million.
Besides bringing in valuable data from space, the orbiter is an important link to NASA's Opportunity rover, which landed in January 2004, and Curiosity rover, which came to Mars in August 2012, according to Space.com.
The two rovers are currently relaying data through another NASA orbiter, the Mars Odyssey, which has been traveling around Mars for nearly 13 years.
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