Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

[Alejandro R. Mosteo]

So SpaceX just achieved its first successful landing of the Falcon 
rocket, and not long ago Blue Origin did something similarly remarkable. 
Whenever I see these feats of engineering I feel the tingle of my 
real-time software itch and wonder what they use for these projects.

Any idea if there's any Ada in there, or what they use in general?

Cheers,
Alex.

Re: Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

[Paul Rubin]

"Alejandro R. Mosteo" <alejandro@mosteo.com> writes:
> Any idea if there's any Ada in there, or what they use in general?

They use C++ :(

Re: Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

[Anh Vo]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2:18:32 PM UTC-7, Paul Rubin wrote:
> "Alejandro R. Mosteo" <alejandro@mosteo.com> writes:
> > Any idea if there's any Ada in there, or what they use in general?
> 
> They use C++ :(

It is only 25% successful rate (one out of four) is not very successful.

Anh Vo

Re: Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

[Georg Bauhaus]

On 09/04/16 05:10, Anh Vo wrote:
> On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2:18:32 PM UTC-7, Paul Rubin wrote:
>> "Alejandro R. Mosteo" <alejandro@mosteo.com> writes:
>>> Any idea if there's any Ada in there, or what they use in general?
>>
>> They use C++ :(
>
> It is only 25% successful rate (one out of four) is not very successful.

Normal engineering cannot pretend to design everything correctly
right from the beginning. So, expect some debugging runs. ;-)

Re: Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

[Anh Vo]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:36:54 PM UTC-7, Georg Bauhaus wrote:
> On 09/04/16 05:10, Anh Vo wrote:
> > On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2:18:32 PM UTC-7, Paul Rubin wrote:
> >> "Alejandro R. Mosteo" <alejandro@mosteo.com> writes:
> >>> Any idea if there's any Ada in there, or what they use in general?
> >>
> >> They use C++ :(
> >
> > It is only 25% successful rate (one out of four) is not very successful.
> 
> Normal engineering cannot pretend to design everything correctly
> right from the beginning. So, expect some debugging runs. ;-)

Design it landed horizontally, using rocket of course, may increase success rate since it is not vulnerable to winds and waves.

Re: Software on SpaceX / Blue Origin projects

[Niklas Holsti]

On 16-04-09 17:35 , Anh Vo wrote:
> On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:36:54 PM UTC-7, Georg Bauhaus wrote:
>> On 09/04/16 05:10, Anh Vo wrote:
>>> On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2:18:32 PM UTC-7, Paul Rubin wrote:
>>>> "Alejandro R. Mosteo" <alejandro@mosteo.com> writes:
>>>>> Any idea if there's any Ada in there, or what they use in general?
>>>>
>>>> They use C++ :(
>>>
>>> It is only 25% successful rate (one out of four) is not very successful.
>>
>> Normal engineering cannot pretend to design everything correctly
>> right from the beginning. So, expect some debugging runs. ;-)
>
> Design it landed horizontally, using rocket of course, may increase
> success rate since it is not vulnerable to winds and waves.

As I understand it, only one Falcon-9 landing attempt failed because of 
stormy conditions, and that attempt was in fact cancelled (it was 
deliberately "landed" on the sea instead of on the drone ship). The 
other failures had other reasons, I believe, and I've not seen SW 
problems mentioned as reasons.

(I'm very happy that SpaceX succeeded here. Not only do they deserve it, 
after such persistence, but I think it is a very important step that 
will force all launcher suppliers to aim towards reusable launchers, 
leading to huge launch-cost reductions.)

-- 
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
       .      @       .