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	article-tgtimes-what-on-mars.mw (2278B)
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	1 .SH tgtimes
	2 What really happened on Mars?
	3 .2C 34v
	4 .
	5 .PP
	6 What can possibly go wrong while sending a device entirely controlled
	7 by software on a remote location where noone would ever be able to
	8 go for a long while? The question opens a vast field of answers.
	9 .
	10 .PP
	11 1997, Pathfinder, a solar-powered ground lander and station, with
	12 VxWorks proprietary real time operating system onboard, embedding
	13 an 6-wheeled Sojourner rover with custom firmware, landed on Mars.
	14 .
	15 .PP
	16 During a field data collection mission a priority inversion did
	17 happen on the Pathfinder station total loss of control for the time
	18 of a reboot.
	19 .
	20 .PP
	21 The bug was reproduced on earth and patched, latter explained on a
	22 mailing list, published online.
	23 .
	24 .FS
	25 https://www.cs.unc.edu/~anderson/teach/comp790/papers/mars_pathfinder_lo…
	26 .FE
	27 .
	28 .PP
	29 At its core, most operating systems are built around a scheduler
	30 that orchestrates execution of many tasks onto one or several CPUs.
	31 It is a critical piece of software in the case of real-time operating
	32 systems, that must ensure to trigger some actions right on time.
	33 .
	34 .PP
	35 Complex systems may be unfit for such purposes, and software
	36 simplicity has found its way through experimenting how complex
	37 systems may end-up in difficult-to-debug situations.
	38 .
	39 .PP
	40 Imagine yourself in charge of reproducing a bug on earth for
	41 something that went wrong on another planet, with a patch expected
	42 for next Monday. A strong argument toward keeping systems simple
	43 and easier to debug.
	44 .
	45 .PP
	46 Although, the Mars operating system landscape is not all VxWorks and
	47 nothing else. For instance, the RTEMS system, Real-Time Executive
	48 for Multiprocessor Systems was open-sourced from US army 1993 and is
	49 today actively maintained by both corporations and the open source
	50 community.
	51 .
	52 .PP
	53 Being part of Google Summer of Code, it is also welcoming newcomers
	54 to real-time operating system development, who might be able to
	55 contribute to embedded software making its way onto space.
	56 .
	57 .FS
	58 https://www.rtems.org/
	59 .FE
	60 .
	61 .PP
	62 While the ISS project was put at threat by the current events in
	63 Ukraine involving all nations, outter-space still represents a middle
	64 ground where all sides have a same objective and can collaborate:
	65 extending the horizons above what could be reached before.