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Like many of us as we get older, the long-serving Mars rover Opportunity is having trouble storing its memory. 

The six-wheeled vehicle, which has been roaming the red planet for more than a decade, keeps wiping its data at random.

Nasa believes that an ageing flash memory is causing the bouts of 'amnesia', and the agency now plans to hack the rover's software in an attempt to cure it.

The stoic Opportunity rover, which has been roaming the red planet for more than a decade, keeps wiping its data at random. Nasa believes that an ageing flash memory is causing the 'amnesia' and is planning to 'hack' the rover's software so that it ignores the broken part of its flash memory

The problem has been ongoing for the last six months because the flash memory has been overwritten so many times.

Project manager John Callas told Discovery News that Opportunity has both volatile and non-volatile memory.

Non-volatile memory is used for long-term storage, allowing Opportunity to 'remember' its information even when it's on standby.

Volatile memory, meanwhile, is similar to RAM (Random Access Memory) found in computers. When the rover turns off, any data stored within the volatile memory is wiped.

The problem has been ongoing for six months because the rover's flash memory has been overwritten so many times. And the problem is getting worse, causing the rover, in some instance, to stop communicating with mission control in Houston altogether

The problem has been found with the rover's non-volatile memory, which means it can still operate, but sometimes saves data on the volatile memory, causing the information to be lost.

'So now we're having these events we call 'amnesia,' Mr Callas told Ian O'Neill at Discovery News.

'Which is the rover trying to use the flash memory, but it wasn't able to, so instead it uses the RAM.'

And the problem is getting worse, causing the rover, in some instance, to stop communicating with mission control in Houston altogether.

Before Christmas, mission control sent three days' worth of commands to Opportunity, but the rebooting problems meant that only the one day's activities were completed.

'It stores telemetry data in that volatile memory, but when the rover goes to sleep and wakes up again, all [the data] is gone,' added Mr Callas.

In a process that may take a few weeks, Nasa is planning to 'hack' the rover's software so that it ignores the broken part of its flash memory.

The hack will involve dividing, isolating, and shutting down one of the seven memory banks causing the problem.

'It's like you have an ageing parent, that is otherwise in good health - maybe they go for a little jog every day, play tennis each day - but you never know, they could have a massive stroke right in the middle of the night,' said Mr Callas.

Before Christmas, mission control sent three days' worth of commands to Opportunity, but the rebooting problems meant that only the one day's activities were completed. Pictured is the rover's route

'So we're always cautious that something could happen.'

Opportunity has been on Mars for 10 years, despite being designed for a 90 Sol mission

A Sol, one Martian day, is slightly longer than an Earth day at 24 hours and 37 minutes.

The rover's mission has been extended several times as it continues to make new and profound discoveries about the red planet.

In December 2012, for instance, mission scientists announced that Opportunity was exploring a special spot on the rim of Endeavour Crater.

The area, known as Matijevic Hill, was found to contain clay minerals, implying that the area was exposed to water billions of years ago.

Currently the rover is just 2,100ft (650 metres) away from Marathon Valley, which looks like ancient clay beds that would have been created when the planet was moist.