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Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2016 09:45:13 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: Failure of the Schiaparelli lander: A software problem?
From: Peter Chapin <spicacality@gmail.com>
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Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:32199
Date: 2016-10-29T09:45:13-07:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

While not specifically Ada related, this is a topic that might be of intere=
st to many in this group. As you may know the Schiaparelli Mars lander rece=
ntly crashed to the surface of Mars instead of landing softly as intended. =
The article here provides some details:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/schiaparelli-requiem-for-a-m=
ars-lander/

According to the article the spacecraft jettisoned its heat shield and para=
chute early and then, even worse, turned off the descent engines while the =
spacecraft was still over a mile from the ground. The article says,

"... a computer glitch seems to have confused the lander, as miscommunicati=
on between its onboard navigational system and radar erroneously told Schia=
parelli it was near the surface."

I'm not sure what "computer glitch" means, exactly, but this sounds like a =
software failure of some kind. Does anyone here have access to more informa=
tion about this? Was this a software failure? If so, what was the nature of=
 the failure, and was it something the use of Ada (or SPARK) might have avo=
ided?

I realize the ESA is still analyzing the telemetry from the lander so perha=
ps more details will come to light in time.

Peter