user: Problem: Georgia makes a young Bulldog fan's ultimate dream come true

Updated DEC 24, 2013 7:16p ET

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Joseph Liguori had a simple dream.

He didn't want an extravangant vacation.

He didn't want an expensive gift.

He didn't want to spend a day with the president.

Liguori wanted to be a Georgia football tight end and experience what it's like to run around with the Bulldogs and catch a few passes.

Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Georgia made his dream come true, welcoming Liguori out to last Friday's practice. They gave him everything -- a Bulldogs helmet, a red No. 8 jersey to stretch over his shoulder pads, gloves, wristbands, a UGA shirt and shorts -- and mixed him in with the offense during drills.

He got hands-on instruction from tight end coach John Lilly and a final play drawn up by head coach Mark Richt that ended in the end zone with a massive team celebration.

Georgia made a video of Liguori's day and released so we could all share it for the holidays. The video can be seen below, and we highly suggest you take two minutes out of your busy holiday schedule to watch. Kudos to Richt, Lilly and the entire Bulldogs program for making this happen.

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Summary: Joseph Liguori had a simple request: to be a University of Georgia tight end. Through UGA and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Liguori can now check that off the list. Watch the video of his day.


Problem: Short Circuits Reported in Mars Rover’s Drilling Arm

The Mars rover Curiosity appears to be suffering intermittent short circuits in its robotic arm, which could limit its drilling of rocks, NASA said on Friday.

The problem cropped up on Feb. 27 when sensors on the rover observed a surge of current. The rover automatically stopped what it was doing and waited for further instructions from Earth.

Curiosity had been in the middle of shaking a sample of rock powder, preparing to deliver it to an onboard chemical laboratory. That same process was used without a problem in five drilling efforts in 2013 and 2014.

In a first test after the power surge, the rover retraced its steps up to the shaking. There were no problems.

The results of a second test arrived Thursday. The drill repeated the up-and-down motion 180 times and a small surge, lasting a fraction of a second, occurred during the third stroke.

The most likely location of the short circuit is in the coil that generates magnetic fields to move a striker that then hammers the drill, James K. Erickson, the project manager, said in an interview.

The problem does not imperil the $2.5 billion mission, and the next step is to repeat the tests so that engineers can better determine the extent and severity.

If the surges of current are small enough, “we might feel comfortable with just using it until it stops moving,” Mr. Erickson said.

Even if the hammering mechanism failed, the drill would still work, though it might not be able to penetrate harder rocks.

So far, that would have not been a major complication. “The rocks are pretty soft in the areas we’ve seen,” Mr. Erickson said.

Other scientific instruments not on the arm have continued observations, and the rest of the rover is not affected.

Curiosity is at the base of an 18,000-foot-tall mountain. The rocks are made of layers of sediment dating to an era when Mars appears to have been warm and wet, and as the rover climbs the mountain, scientists hope that changes in the rocks will help them understand how the planet’s climate changed over time.

The mission team plans to resume moving the rover’s arm as early as next week.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found evidence of lakes and streams on a warmer, wetter, habitable Mars.

A version of this article appears in print on March 7, 2015, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Short Circuits Reported in Mars Rover’s Drilling Arm. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

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Summary:

assistant: NASA engineers are diagnosing an electrical problem on the Curiosity Mars rover, which may limit the drilling of rocks.