Using Linux to Explore Mars

[C1ay]

NASA/JPL's Mars Exploration Rover project is the first time a JPL flight project has used Linux systems for critical mission operations. Scott Maxwell and Frank Hartman, two of MER's rover drivers, also wrote the Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP), the Linux-based software used on Earth to drive Spirit and Opportunity. Scott and Frank will discuss the software they developed, as well as their experiences using Linux to drive two vehicles across the Martian terrain, a hundred million miles from Earth.

 

Source: Caltech

 

I think this is another notable milestone for the Linux community. I usually tell people there's at least 2 things no one uses Windoze for, Bank Accounting and Air Traffic Control. I suspect I could add space exploration to the list too :hyper:

[UncleAl]

Windoze could have been used! One rover to hold the OS, one rover to hold the swap file.

[Aki]

Using Windows would just be way to risky. You never know when it's going to crash, it's like having a bomb on you that can explode anytime.

[C1ay]

Using Windows would just be way to risky. You never know when it's going to crash, it's like having a bomb on you that can explode anytime.

;) That remided me of OSAir:

 

IF OPERATING SYSTEMS RAN THE AIRLINES - Submitted by J. Hovind

 

UNIX Airways

 

Everyone brings one piece of the plane along when they come to the airport. They all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing non-stop about what kind of plane they are supposed to be building.

 

Air DOS

 

Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again. Then they push again, jump on again, and so on ...

 

Mac Airlines

 

All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look and act exactly the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are gently but firmly told that you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be done for you without your ever having to know, so just shut up.

 

Windows Air

 

The terminal is pretty and colorful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.

 

Windows NT Air

 

Just like Windows Air, but costs more, uses much bigger planes, and takes out all the other aircraft within a 40-mile radius when it explodes.

 

Linux Air

 

Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plan leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do what with the seat?"

 

[alexander]

i dont know if i agree with the MacOS, that joke must be pre X times...

 

You never know when it's going to crash, it's like having a bomb on you that can explode anytime.

lol, there was a funny one on the tv the other knight, they were truing to determine the cause of death of Tutanhamun and were given a few hours to examine the body, when they were doing the full body scan windows crashed, luckily the creators of the software knew that that would happen and wrote to a file in sections of certain size after completion, but it was hilarious though ;)

[alexander]

P.S. just so you know, all the Casini mission image rendering was and still is done on 4 penguin computing clusters in some University (dozens of dual opteron machines), i think it was running off of something like slackware, but all customized, basically they got raw data in from the probe, then put sections and pictures all together, rendering and all, and then sent it out to nasa to make surface maps ;) I met the guy who wrote all the soft and is still writing soft for the cluster (that is by the way seen as one machine ...