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The Software Behind the Mars Phoenix Lander

Posted by timothy on from the distant-robot-friends dept.

chromatic writes "Imagine managing a million lines of code to send over seven hundred pounds of equipment millions of miles through space to land safely on Mars and perform dozens of experiments. You have C, 128 MB of RAM, and very few opportunities to retry if you get it wrong. O'Reilly News interviewed Peter Gluck, project software engineer for NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander, about the process of writing software and managing these constraints — and why you're unlikely to see the source code to the project any time soon."

4 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Imagine by t0qer · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Managing a million lines of code that controls a device that will forever change how humanity views itself and the universe. No, the universe doesn't revolve around the earth. There is life out there, and there is no god.

  2. Please Send Soviet Russia: +1, PatRIOTic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    to liberate United Gulags of Americafrom repressive presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

    Cordially,
    K. Trout

  3. Um, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    So how much of that 128MB does the VBRUN60.DLL take?

  4. Yo0 insensitive clod! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    for succeesful WERE NULLIFIED BY vary for different lizard - In other result of a quarrel