From owner-freebsd-chat Fri Sep 7 6: 7:49 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from funnel.cisco.com (funnel.cisco.com [161.44.131.24]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3C46037B407 for ; Fri, 7 Sep 2001 06:07:47 -0700 (PDT) Received: from bmcgover-pc.cisco.com (bmcgover-pc.cisco.com [161.44.149.69]) by funnel.cisco.com (8.8.5-Cisco.1/8.6.5) with ESMTP id JAA08380 for ; Fri, 7 Sep 2001 09:07:43 -0400 (EDT) Received: from bmcgover-pc.cisco.com (localhost.cisco.com [127.0.0.1]) by bmcgover-pc.cisco.com (8.11.3/8.11.3) with ESMTP id f87D3ur05167 for ; Fri, 7 Sep 2001 09:03:57 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from bmcgover@bmcgover-pc.cisco.com) Message-Id: <200109071303.f87D3ur05167@bmcgover-pc.cisco.com> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: NASA's Operating system? Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 09:03:56 -0400 From: "Brian J. McGovern" Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Flight control? Heh, the Shuttle uses systems probably 30 years old. I can't believe the ISS would be far ahead of it ;) Seriously, having worked in the industry, flight control code/hardware of any kind is beaten to extreems before its ever actually used. At our weekly projects for an autopilot system, the saying was "We don't ship until everyone in this room would strap themselves in and go for a ride.". The number of cycles spent on QA was astronomical, especially compared to the normal amount spent on today's software. As far as hardware, if I remember, the shuttle has 5 interconnected special purpose systems to do flight management. The interface and displays are cryptic, and actually quite entertaining trying to figure out how to read (IN 75 MOD 7 ENT, to turn on the lights, anyone?). If anyone is actually interested, I can try to dig out some docs I have at home, and get a more accurate description of the system. -Brian To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message