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'Extreme Programming' Controls Phoenix Mars Lander

Posted by Soulskill on from the hello-world dept.

pbd points out a story discussing the challenges faced by NASA engineers in designing the code sent to operate the Phoenix Mars Lander. Quoting Computerworld: "On Wednesday, engineers sent up the code to run an actual analysis, but a satellite orbiting Mars, which transfers the data down to the Lander, was offline. Robinson explained that the satellite had been hit with radiation, knocking it into safe mode. 'Space is a harsh environment, and sometimes they just go into safe mode,' he noted. 'It's a minor problem. [The satellite] aborts whatever it was doing and waits for future commanding.' Engineers successfully resent the code on Thursday."

3 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. No mention of Extreme Programming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This article doesn't state the lander was programmed with Extreme Programming techniques.

    There's just one sentence which says something about "presents extreme programming challenges" which is the closest this article comes to mentioning Extreme Programming.

  2. Re:That's coolness by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 4, Informative

    TFA appear to be wrong. It runs VxWorks 5.2.

    The confusion probably arose because Wind River also sells a Linux version, and the press sometimes confuses that with VxWorks.

  3. Some other interesting points about that article by Fallen+Andy · · Score: 4, Informative
    1. Only 8 ovens, which can't be used more than once. Hence all the painstaking deliberations

    about when to really go for a scoop of soil.

    2. Only 3 months before it will get too cold and the lander will (probably) die.

    3. Martian day, (roughly 24hrs 40mins).

    The NASA programmers have been my heroes ever since the hacks they did to Voyager.

    I guess after they've finished the programmers will take up something more relaxing (like working for EA).

    Andy