techradar Mars probe running Windows 98 receives software update after two decades....

[schuck6566]

Mars probe running Windows 98 receives software update after two decades | TechRadar

WWW.TECHRADAR.COM

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Windows 98 lives on in space

"Patch management for the latest versions of Windows might be the concern of most of us located here on Earth, but meanwhile, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft has received the first update to its Window 98-based system in 19 years."

 

Who needs Windows 11??

Edited June 27, 2022 by schuck6566

[bonami2]

I wonder if it freeze everytime it want to move

[schuck6566]

  On 27/06/2022 at 13:06, bonami2 said:

I wonder if it freeze everytime it want to move

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They were wondering what hardware it was using and guessed it could probably play Doom....  

"The space agency didn’t go into a great deal of detail regarding the specs of the hardware receiving the update, however Tom's Hardware speculated it could have a Pentium 90 processor, meaning it could potentially run classic games such as Doom as well as explore the secrets of Mars."

[bonami2]

  On 27/06/2022 at 13:10, schuck6566 said:

They were wondering what hardware it was using and guessed it could probably play Doom....  

"The space agency didn’t go into a great deal of detail regarding the specs of the hardware receiving the update, however Tom's Hardware speculated it could have a Pentium 90 processor, meaning it could potentially run classic games such as Doom as well as explore the secrets of Mars."

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I wonder what kind of motherboard those thing got. Back then capacitor failure was high haha.

 

Maybe this thing is going to come back on earth one days.

Edited June 27, 2022 by bonami2

[PCSarge]

  On 27/06/2022 at 14:18, bonami2 said:

I wonder what kind of motherboard those thing got. Back then capacitor failure was high haha.

 

Maybe this thing is going to come back on earth one days.

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or itll just pop a capacitor and stop dead on mars forever. allowing humanity to efficiently dispose of old technology

[Sir Beregond]

Uh oh, it BSODed.

[bonami2]

[PCSarge]

  On 27/06/2022 at 17:02, Sir Beregond said:

Uh oh, it BSODed.

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Uh oh, Spaghetti O's

[pio]

I'm probably the only one here wondering......."hey, where can I get that patch?"

 

Honestly, that's pretty cool that the Rover is running Win98 if you ask me.  I've been saying it for years, and I'll keep saying it....there's nothing at ALL wrong with using old hardware or software.  All depends on your usages.  

[UltraMega]

I think Tech Radar is way off on this reporting. The Mars Express is not running Windows 98, and they seem to have gotten pretty far away from the original quote that lead to this reporting. 

 

"We faced a number of challenges to improve the performance of MARSIS," Enginium's Carlo Nenna said in a statement. "Not least because the MARSIS software was originally designed over 20 years ago, using a development environment based on Microsoft Windows 98!"

 

Only the software used to develop MARSIS was running Windows 98, not MARSIS itself. I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone that the computers they used to run their dev tools 20 years ago were running on the version of Windows that was around at the time. It looks like a few sites took this info and totally misrepresented it for click bait.

 

Mars Express Is Getting a Long-Overdue Software Upgrade

WWW.PCMAG.COM

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A critical part of the spacecraft uses software designed on Windows 98.

 

I sent an email to Tech Radars chief editor to let them know their article is wrong. Wonder if they'll fix it. The headline for their article is blatantly wrong. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by UltraMega

[pio]

  On 29/06/2022 at 05:33, UltraMega said:

I think Tech Radar is way off on this reporting. The Mars Express is not running Windows 98, and they seem to have gotten pretty far away from the original quote that lead to this reporting. 

 

"We faced a number of challenges to improve the performance of MARSIS," Enginium's Carlo Nenna said in a statement. "Not least because the MARSIS software was originally designed over 20 years ago, using a development environment based on Microsoft Windows 98!"

 

Only the software used to develop MARSIS was running Windows 98, not MARSIS itself. I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone that the computers they used to run their dev tools 20 years ago were running on the version of Windows that was around at the time. It looks like a few sites took this info and totally misrepresented it for click bait.

 

Mars Express Is Getting a Long-Overdue Software Upgrade

WWW.PCMAG.COM

---

A critical part of the spacecraft uses software designed on Windows 98.

 

I sent an email to Tech Radars chief editor to let them know their article is wrong. Wonder if they'll fix it. The headline for their article is blatantly wrong. 

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Welcome to journalism mate.  I've been complaining about headlines and faked information in news articles for years.  

 

As far as the software in question, there's still lots of software designed to run on Windows 3.1 even that still works today on Windows 10 or 11.  So THAT really isn't that big of a surprise at all.

[UltraMega]

  On 29/06/2022 at 05:57, pioneerisloud said:

Welcome to journalism mate.  I've been complaining about headlines and faked information in news articles for years.  

 

As far as the software in question, there's still lots of software designed to run on Windows 3.1 even that still works today on Windows 10 or 11.  So THAT really isn't that big of a surprise at all.

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Yea I think we're all well aware of how far journalistic integrity has fallen, but usually they don't state something that's totally false in the headline (or at least it usually doesn't happen outside of politics much). Tech Radar's article is just flat out wrong since it states directly that the space probe is running windows 98 which is simply not true at all. 

 

If they correct the article, it would be the second time recently that I have e-mailed the Chief Editor of a major website and gotten them to correct an error, both related to things about outer space. 

[bonami2]

Am the only one wondering how the lithium battery lasted 20 years 

[UltraMega]

  On 29/06/2022 at 06:36, bonami2 said:

Am the only one wondering how the lithium battery lasted 20 years 

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Being in space probably helps a lot. 

[bonami2]

  On 29/06/2022 at 06:45, UltraMega said:

Being in space probably helps a lot. 

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True but still interesting. Running 24/7 the battery cycle must be insanely high. Meaning that current battery are just scam pushed to max voltage to die.

[UltraMega]

  On 29/06/2022 at 06:57, bonami2 said:

True but still interesting. Running 24/7 the battery cycle must be insanely high. Meaning that current battery are just scam pushed to max voltage to die.

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I don't think the battery cycle would be that intense. The probe doesn't have a standard orbit, and it spends the vast majority of its time on the further out part of its elliptical orbit (aphelion) meaning it's probably almost never in shadow and thus getting constant power from its solar panels. The battery probably acts most like a big capacitor rather than something that needs to hold a long charge for the whole thing to run off of.

 

Its orbital period is less than 7 hours. Even if it does go into shadow often, which is kind of unlikely, it would only do so at its closest and therefore fastest part of its orbit since with an elliptical orbit, the satellite will speed up a lot as it moves to its closest point to the planet (perihelion). 

 

 

The probe does go into shadows sometimes, but it only happens when the orbit is in-line with the sun. The orbiter does not simply orbit on one plane so the time it would spend in shadow would be rare and probably only a couple minutes at a time. It's probably also safe to assume the probe doesn't do much during these times since it would not be idea to take pictures in the dark. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by UltraMega

[bonami2]

  On 29/06/2022 at 07:09, UltraMega said:

I don't think the battery cycle would be that intense. The probe doesn't have a standard orbit, and it spends the vast majority of its time on the further out part of its elliptical orbit (aphelion) meaning it's probably almost never in shadow and thus getting constant power from its solar panels. The battery probably acts most like a big capacitor rather than something that needs to hold a long charge for the whole thing to run off of.

 

Its orbital period is less than 7 hours. Even if it does go into shadow often, which is kind of unlikely, it would only do so at its closest and therefore fastest part of its orbit since with an elliptical orbit, the satellite will speed up a lot as it moves to its closest point to the planet (perihelion). 

 

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I need to read more on that. Really interesting stuff that i don't have any knowledge on.  Thank you for explaining to me

Make sense that the solar panel are the main power source. Since relying mainly on the battery would increase the failure chance of the project.

[UltraMega]

  On 29/06/2022 at 07:18, bonami2 said:

I need to read more on that. Really interesting stuff that i don't have any knowledge on.  Thank you for explaining to me

Make sense that the solar panel are the main power source. Since relying mainly on the battery would increase the failure chance of the project.

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Sure thing. It is kinda surprising to learn that any space probe would use lithium ion batteries. Seems like it would make a lot more sense to use a nuclear power source like the Voyager probes do since radiation isn't an issue but that is definitely beyond my area of knowledge. 

[bonami2]

  On 29/06/2022 at 07:21, UltraMega said:

Sure thing. It is kinda surprising to learn that any space probe would use lithium ion batteries. Seems like it would make a lot more sense to use a nuclear power source like the Voyager probes do since radiation isn't an issue but that is definitely beyond my area of knowledge. 

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Googled a little and found this.

  Quote

Since the launch of our first battery in 1966 on board the D1A “Diapason”, Saft has gained significant experience to become the top supplier worldwide of spacecraft batteries. We are a pioneer in lithium-ion batteries for space applications and offer advanced battery solutions with very long shelf-life (up to 20 years). As no two space missions are the same, so no two space-application batteries are. Saft knows this and always works with customers to design a solution for their specific space needs.

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Space

WWW.SAFTBATTERIES.COM

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Procure space qualified lithium-ion batteries from Saft. Our spacecraft batteries will survive extreme vibration and shocks, vacuum and extreme temperatures.

 

 

Pretty strange to update the system when one of the battery manufacturer for space usage battery say they only have 20 years lifespan.

Wonder if it gonna die soon 

 

Elon musk satelitte will be fun when battery upgrade time come. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by bonami2

[UltraMega]

  On 29/06/2022 at 07:44, bonami2 said:

 

 

 

Googled a little and found this.

Space

WWW.SAFTBATTERIES.COM

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Procure space qualified lithium-ion batteries from Saft. Our spacecraft batteries will survive extreme vibration and shocks, vacuum and extreme temperatures.

 

 

Pretty strange to update the rover when one of the battery manufacturer for space us say they only have 20 years lifespan.

Wonder if it gonna die soon 

 

Elon musk satelitte will be fun when battery upgrade time come. 

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I think you mean orbiter, not rover. 

 

If you consider how far past the planned mission timeframe the Voyager missions, or Huble, or almost any Mars rover have lasted, it's really not strange at all to expect these things to last well beyond their manufacturing goals. With that said, the Mars Express Orbiter is only 18.5 years old so still another 18 months before it even gets to that point assuming the batteries were designed to last 20 years. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by UltraMega

[bonami2]

  On 29/06/2022 at 07:59, UltraMega said:

I think you mean orbiter, not rover. 

 

If you consider how far past the planned mission timeframe the Voyager missions, or Huble, or almost any Mars rover have lasted, it's really not strange at all to expect these things to last well beyond their manufacturing goals. With that said, the Mars Express Orbiter is only 18.5 years old so still another 18 months before it even gets to that point assuming the batteries were designed to last 20 years. 

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Oh yea typed too fast sorry just edited it.

 

Probably can last more than 20 years will try to follow up on this

[schuck6566]

lol, ok, even windows central updated their story to reflect that it was a OS MADE using Win 98......

 

European Space Agency to upgrade Mars Express spacecraft from software made with Windows 98 | Windows Central

WWW.WINDOWSCENTRAL.COM

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The Mars Express spacecraft has run on an OS built with development tools based on Windows 98 for 19 years.

 

[UltraMega]

  On 29/06/2022 at 09:54, schuck6566 said:

lol, ok, even windows central updated their story to reflect that it was a OS MADE using Win 98......

 

European Space Agency to upgrade Mars Express spacecraft from software made with Windows 98 | Windows Central

WWW.WINDOWSCENTRAL.COM

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The Mars Express spacecraft has run on an OS built with development tools based on Windows 98 for 19 years.

 

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Yea, I noticed that when I looked it up and I also got a little chuckle. 

I knew the headline had to be wrong when I first saw it because there is no way a space probe would be running windows, but I didn't have a chance to look it up until today. 

[Sir Beregond]

LOL, can't trust a thing you read nowadays. And people wonder why I don't watch the news, but I digress.

[Diffident]

The correction still doesn't present a clear picture of what the OS is.

 

  Quote

the MARSIS instrument was designed with a development environment that was based on Windows 98

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Which could mean that they wrote a Unix or Linux based OS using Borland C++ in Windows 98.