Computer boffins running NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have stuck the on-board PC into safe mode for the next two weeks while they try to find out what is going wrong with the machine.

Technicians have had to switch the machine of and switch it on again three times in the last year and watched in horror as it inexplicably switched to a backup computer last month in a different malfunction. NASA launched the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter toward the red planet in 2005. It is the most powerful orbiter ever sent to Mars and has beamed home more data and images than all other missions to the red planet combined.

However it seems also one of the more prone to computer errors. During analysis of the four safe-mode events, NASA engineers have identified a vulnerability of the spacecraft's program. They are currently developing added protection to eliminate this vulnerability while they continue analysis of the string of incidents. To be fair the orbiter completed its primary mission in late 2008 and is currently in the middle of an extended mission that runs through mid-2010.

While the machine is switched off we guess that Martians can come out and sunbathe.