Re: Failure of the Schiaparelli lander: A software problem?

[dirk@feles.cs.kuleuven.be. (Dirk Craeynest)]

In article <04236df5-938d-49df-a74e-01faac6f7a15@googlegroups.com>,
Peter Chapin  <spicacality@gmail.com> wrote:
>http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/schiaparelli-requiem-for-a-mars-lander/
[...]
>"... a computer glitch seems to have confused the lander, as
>miscommunication between its onboard navigational system and radar
>erroneously told Schiaparelli it was near the surface."
[...]
>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 avoided?

FYI, in a press release [1] earlier this year, AdaCore wrote:

  Thales Alenia Space implemented in Ada two ExoMars On-Board Software
  (OBSW) components: one for the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) on an ERC32
  target, and one for the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator
  Module (EDM) on a LEON2 target.

So there already was (at least some) Ada software on the Schiaparelli
lander.  The above quote seems to suggest that all software on the
lander was in Ada, as the latter is named as one of the two components
implemented in Ada...

Maybe someone from AdaCore or Thales on CLA can tell us more?

[1] http://www.adacore.com/press/ada-on-board-gnat-pro-helps-exomars-get-to-the-red-planet/

Dirk
Dirk.Craeynest@cs.kuleuven.be (for Ada-Belgium/Ada-Europe/SIGAda/WG9)

*** 22nd Intl.Conf.on Reliable Software Technologies - Ada-Europe'2017
*** June 12-16, 2017 *** Vienna, Austria *** http://www.ada-europe.org