Linux on a Saturn V?

[Brian Kelsay]

Quick answer, yes, it could.  Long answer, maybe, it's not as easy as you
think.

A lot of what's complicated about space-flight software is that it must be
automated and more importantly it must be timed just right.  Linux or any
other SpaceFlight OS is going to need to monitor fuel burn rate, thrust and
altitude.  It will need to monitor and control gimbals on the engines,
various consumable stores and other instrument based readings.  It will need
to make decisions based on these readings and not get locked up or
confused.  It will need to be able to transmit all these readings back home
and send some radio signals or change frequency at minimum when key
decisions are made.  These are to let ground control know what is going on
when they are not in control or too far away to make quick changes.  The
further away the craft is, the longer it takes to send a command.

Can it do it, definitely yes.   But each craft and mission is different.
I'd bet that they want the hard real time Linux for this.


On Dec 17, 2007 6:40 AM, Oren Beck <> wrote:

> Ok- this a question of "could it ever ?"
>
> Several folks have proposed  American funding for Big  Dumb Boosters.
> Think a cloned only slightly updated Saturn V. Problem being that NASA has
> made "Lawn Ornaments" of all the unused ones they had, then shredded or
> burned all the project docs.
> Which included ***ALL** known copies of the software. So even if that
> mythical "found one complete in a warehouse" scenario were true...  We would
> have to recreate software not only to fly the bird, but to support it. That
> is quite likely the same level of complexity as writing code for ANY such
> giant rockets.  If we copy a Saturn V or make the not yet hatched Saturn VI.
>
>  Thus it becomes viable to consider Linux and it's ancillary tool sets
>
> Then again - would you ever be able to find enough coders in any other
> STABLE viable OS?
>
>
> --
> Oren Beck
> 816.729.3645
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://kclug.org/pipermail/kclug/attachments/20071217/0018e642/attachment.htm