Could You Hack Into Mars Curiosity Rover? 452
MrSeb writes "NASA's Curiosity rover has now been on the surface of Mars for just over a week. It hasn't moved an inch after landing, instead focusing on orienting itself (and NASA's scientists) by taking instrument readings and snapping images of its surroundings. The first beautiful full-color images of Gale Crater are starting to trickle in, and NASA has already picked out some interesting rock formations that it will investigate further in the next few days. Over the weekend and continuing throughout today, however, Curiosity is attempting something very risky indeed: A firmware upgrade. This got me thinking: If NASA can transmit new software to a Mars rover that's hundreds of millions of miles away... why can't a hacker do the same thing? In short, there's no reason a hacker couldn't take control of Curiosity, or lock NASA out. All you would need is your own massive 230-foot dish antenna and a 400-kilowatt transmitter — or, perhaps more realistically, you could hack into NASA's computer systems, which is exactly what Chinese hackers did 13 times in 2011."
No worries (Score:5, Funny)
Hackers hate challenges.
Secret Questions (Score:5, Funny)
Does anyone know A)where Curiosity was born B)Curiosity's childhood pet C)Curiosity's mother's maiden name?
Re:Secret Questions (Score:5, Funny)
a) Pasadena
b) Neil Armstrong
c) Apollo
Would be funny... (Score:5, Funny)
Curiosity no longer responds after firmware update
Using Hubble Telescope the only image they can see on top of the Rover is this image: http://agilemobility.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/stuck_on_activate_my_iphone_screen21.jpg [agilemobility.net]
When you put it that way... (Score:5, Funny)
All you would need is your own massive 230-foot dish antenna and a 400-kilowatt transmitter
In that case, yes. Yes, I could.
Proxy (Score:5, Funny)
I've already configured my system to use Curiosity as anonymous proxy. They will never find me.
(obviously this message was posted 14 minutes ago)
Re:dd (Score:5, Funny)
Good thing they're not provisioned by AT&T or Comcast, otherwise NASA would have to contend with artificial bandwidth caps. ;)
Re:No worries (Score:5, Funny)
Besides, the Motto is "Hack the Planet", so this would be clearly outside the scope.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The Real Question: (Score:2, Funny)
They are switching OS from DOS to handle the landing to BSD to handle the roving. They were too cheap to buy extra storage to have both at the same time.
Re:DSN on the Internet ? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Proxy (Score:5, Funny)
Well, he's blown it. Now they know he's on Mars.
Re:Wikipedia has something to say about this threa (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wikipedia has something to say about this threa (Score:3, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don't_stuff_beans_up_your_nose [wikipedia.org]
You sir, are a hero.
Re:dd (Score:5, Funny)
.. they reprogrammed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to take photos of poorly-lit Uranus.
Couldn't they have just turned on the lights in the bathroom?
(Face it, you knew an ass joke was imminent.)
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Proxy (Score:5, Funny)
So, still no intelligent life. Bummer.
Re:This is a great way... (Score:5, Funny)
You're all wrong. It's "Bull sigh" because that's the sound a bull makes when you get pedantic on the internet.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
The password is hunter2
You need to use the /cleartext command. All I see is *******.
Re:Wikipedia has something to say about this threa (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wikipedia has something to say about this threa (Score:4, Funny)
It was running android, but all the crapware couldnt be uninstalled and it was hard to see much with the ad banners on the top and bottom of each camera shot. Not to mention, battery life is important on Mars! :)
Re:Someone should hack it -- (Score:4, Funny)
But please don't permanently damage it. Just do a few donuts, draw Guy Fawkes in the sand, make the clock flash 12:00, grind some rocks to resemble dog poop, and leave the left blinker on along with some geriatric jokes in the flash memory.