stevee@ism780c.isc.com (Steve Ellingson) (08/22/90)
Just out of curiosity, what language is Magellan's computer
programmed in?
What languages are used to program satellites and space-probes,
generally?
Steve
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Steve Ellingson stevee@ism.isc.com
INTERACTIVE Systems Corp. {ico, uunet}!ism.isc.com!stevee
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Steve Ellingson stevee@ism.isc.com
INTERACTIVE Systems Corp. {ico, uunet}!ism.isc.com!steveeolson@antares.cs.Virginia.EDU (Thomas J. Olson) (08/23/90)
In article <46636@ism780c.isc.com> stevee@ism.isc.com (Steve Ellingson) writes: >Just out of curiosity, what language is Magellan's computer >programmed in? > >What languages are used to program satellites and space-probes, >generally? > I don't know about Magellan, but at least until recently a lot of spacecraft were still programmed in assembler. Some reasons: first, processors able to meet the reliability and radiation tolerance specs generally don't have a lot of horsepower to waste-- the CDP1802 (8 bit, 1Mhz), for example, is flying in at least one Galileo experiment. (Does anybody remember the "little professor" kit? that was an 1802...) Thus, to conserve hrosspower and code size, you write assembler. Second, until recently you couldn't carry enough memory to run very complex programs, so assembler programs weren't excessively difficult to write reliably. Even I can get a 1000-line assy program right given enough time... I do know that FORTH has been used in some instruments, since it offers some of the benefits of conventional languages without quite such a heavy performance hit. Caveat: I've only been involved with instruments, not with the more mission-critical processors that run the bus (ie the spacecraft itself, its antennae, power supplies etc.) Comments from somebody in that business? --Tom Olson