Not to be rude, but it sounds like you're just unfamiliar with standard procedure.
"We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission,"
>I wouldn't have thought that programming code would take significant space
It doesn't. I bet it takes just as much space as you imagine it does. The rover just have that little space to work with. These aren't last year's FPS gaming rigs with hundreds of gigs on SSD available. These are hardened, turn-of-the-millennium embedded computers.
>the potential for screw ups just seems way too high
Both Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft have been sent software updates, without fault. MSL was designed from the get-go to have software updates mid-mission.
> Both Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft have been sent software updates, without fault. MSL was designed from the get-go to have software updates mid-mission.
OK, but the Viking 1 lander on Mars was lost due to human error during a software update.
That's not to say software updates don't make sense, but you can't just justify them with "MSL was designed to do it and it's been done successfully before." Rather, you have to weigh the benefits and risk as usual. Luckily, I have confidence this was carefully though about and that the right decision has been made.
It actually has a reasonable amount of flash. Two gigabytes, empty of experimental data, should be able to hold multiple versions of the OS fine. They can't be particularly squeezed for space when they tossed in four times that much per camera.
I'll be baffled if they're doing this for any other reason than pushing the most recent and polished code.
"We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission,"
>I wouldn't have thought that programming code would take significant space
It doesn't. I bet it takes just as much space as you imagine it does. The rover just have that little space to work with. These aren't last year's FPS gaming rigs with hundreds of gigs on SSD available. These are hardened, turn-of-the-millennium embedded computers.
>the potential for screw ups just seems way too high
Both Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft have been sent software updates, without fault. MSL was designed from the get-go to have software updates mid-mission.