Astronomy current events question: reformatting Opportunity's memory

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2014
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab. (This motivates students to show up promptly to lab, as the time cut-off for the quiz is strictly enforced!)

Guy Webster, "Memory Reformat Planned for Opportunity Mars Rover," (August 29, 2014; updated September 8, 2014)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-292

In order to avoid future unplanned disruptions in its performance, NASA recently __________ of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
(A) reformatted the memory.
(B) cleaned off the solar panels.
(C) restarted the nuclear reactor.
(D) replaced the cracked wheel.
(E) dumped out its sample bin.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186
(A) : 34 students
(B) : 2 students
(C) : 2 students
(D) : 0 students
(E) : 1 student