MESSAGE
| DATE | 2021-02-28 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] mars
|
https://au.pcmag.com/drones/85727/linux-is-now-on-mars-thanks-to-nasas-perseverance-rover
u.pcmag.com
Linux Is Now on Mars, Thanks to NASA's Perseverance Rover
By Michael Kan 20 Feb 2021, 8:26 a.m.
2 minutes
(Credit: NASA)
When NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars this week, it also brought
the Linux operating system to the Red Planet.
The tidbit was mentioned in an interview NASA software engineer Tim
Canham gave to IEEE Spectrum. The helicopter-like drone on board the
Perseverance rover uses a Linux-powered software framework the space
agency open-sourced a few years ago. “This the first time we’ll be
flying Linux on Mars. We’re actually running on a Linux operating
system,” Canham said.
It also might be the first time NASA has brought a Linux-based device to
Mars. “There isn’t a previous use of Linux that I’m aware of, definitely
on the previous rovers,” Canham told PCMag in an email.
Past Mars rovers have used proprietary OSes, largely from the software
company Wind River Systems. The same is true for the Perseverance rover
itself; the machine has been installed with Wind River’s VxWorks, which
was used on past Mars missions.
The drone
Credit: NASA
However, NASA settled on the Linux OS for the rover’s helicopter-like
drone, Ingenuity, which was built using off-the-shelf parts, including
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 processor, a smartphone chip.
“We wanted to pick a powerful compact processor for the Helicopter, and
the best candidate was the Snapdragon 801 board we found. [But] they
didn’t have VxWorks for the board,” Canham told PCMag. “It’s definitely
a win for Linux."
We’ll have to wait and see how the drone performs. Ingenuity is a
proof-of-concept for test-flying an object in the Martian environment,
which has a different gravity and a thinner atmosphere than Earth. The
gathered insights will then be used to develop better drones for future
missions to the planet.
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