Get the latest tech news
New heroes of spaceflight: Not the astronauts but the software nerds
In a previous generation, the stars of the Space Age were the astronauts, men of military training and “Right Stuff” bearing who would be expected to tackle whatever problem arose in space and find a solution. Today, it’s the software engineers and computer scientists.
Over several weeks, they drew up algorithms on whiteboards, ran computer simulations and hardware tests, and devised a solution: By reprogramming the satellite’s software, theycould generate a magnetic current that would push against Earth’s magnetosphere and eventually slow the spin. And so,early one morning in July, they pressed “send,” shooting the software fix from Starfish headquarters in Seattle to a ground station in Norway to the spacecraft 335 miles above Earth — hoping it would work. Engineers at a company called Intuitive Machines realized that sensors on their lunar lander had never been turned on, meaning their Odysseus spacecraft was essentially flying blind, unable to scout the moon’s rocky and hilly landscape for a safe landing place.
Or read this on Hacker News
