Questions tagged [software]
Questions regarding computer programs used in space exploration.
137 questions
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What are the open source geometric drawing software available for simple effective visualisation of earth sub tended angle, earth's curvature,etc?
Kindly suggest open source software for generating geometrical visualisation as depicted in the 3rd answer provided in the link
Help computing solid angle subtended by the Earth as seen from LEO
and ...
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What are the typical matrix sizes in the math driving Earth-orbiting satellite GNC systems?
I am doing some analysis on various numeric libraries for this application and have noted that certain libraries outperform others on average based upon the typical matrix sizes encountered. What are ...
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How Does Code Reuse Work at NASA
Prompted in part by this question:
Does NASA (or ESA) reuse code across projects?
If you're tasked with writing the path finding code for Mars-Rover-Next, do you start by going to an internal NASA git ...
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Is there such a thing as 'aerospace grade software'?
"Aerospace grade materials" is a buzzword used to describe the set of materials and standards developed for aerospace applications. They are distinguished because they are designed to meet ...
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What encryption scheme was used for the Columbia shuttle from-ground commands?
I'm a security enthusiast(not a professional) so
commands to the orbiter from the ground were routinely encrypted
gets me wondering 'how'. STS-107 was in February 2003 while to day rock solid ...
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Can anyone with a big enough antenna reprogram deep space spacecraft?
I was recently reading about how Voyager 2 has had several remote software updates performed during its lifetime. This got me thinking - could anyone with a powerful enough antenna reprogram Voyager 2 ...
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What are some commonly-used onboard database solutions for spacecraft telemetry and key-value storage?
Many spacecraft attempt to store historical telemetry and have a central storage area for configuration information. I was wondering what database solutions - tabular or key-value - have been used for ...
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Should secondary flight computers run a RTOS, or use middleware?
Say I designed a satellite that looked approximately like this.
The secondary board (right) falls under NASA NPR Class C.
Should it be running some form of middleware (cFS, F', Fast-DDS, etc) or a ...
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Existing tools to generate a realistic distribution of TLEs for debris 1 cm and up?
I'm new to this field so sorry if this is a dumb question.
I could take the flux from ORDEM and extrapolate but I don't want to re-invent the wheel here. This is for ground to space LIDAR simulation ...
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What books, papers, or other references discuss spacecraft GNC software architecture?
I am seeking reference material not necessarily on the principles of GNC itself (I already own most popular books on it), but on the actual software architecture for onboard GNC. I am having trouble ...
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Can operators put their satellites to sleep temporarily?
I’ve read a bit about “safe mode” and “passivation”. While one seems to be triggered autonomously, the other is used to decommission the satellite.
How does one put the mission in a temporary safe ...
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What Kind of Space Problems Do You Solve with Python and other prosaic software tools? [closed]
In looking at different job listings for space companies, I see some tools which are obviously specific to aerospace and high-end engineering, but also a lot of very run of the mill software skills ...
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How were Wikipedia's orbital simulations made?
Pretty simple question; what software is used on Wikipedia to make these simulations? Some examples below:
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How beaten up would Voyager 1 be in 40,000 years?
How much damage would there be, both physically and to the computers, memory etc, upon arrival to Gliese 445 in 40k years by radiation and interstellar debris?
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Reasons behind Soviets Using Prolog Programming Language for Buran Space Shuttle?
I was reading a post related to the operating system of American Space Shuttles, then wondered what might Soviets have used. I found a CIA document and several forums saying that Prolog was used in ...