Linux Is Now on Mars, Thanks to NASA's Perseverance Rover:
https://uk.pcmag.com/drones/131849/l...everance-rover

cool use for linux.

This is Fantastic. I'm sure those Clowns in Redmond WA are Crying in their Mocha Latte.

That's nice and all but has the thing flown yet?

not sure, i bet they give news update when that happens.

Not yet, but soon...

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8867/nasa...er-reports-in/

that colored surname is finnish
cool to have finns there.

Ever open Windows in outer space? Not good.

Interesting but not surprising. I think Slackware was the first Linux in outer space back in the 90's and its been used on the ISS
https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3024?page=0,1
https://training.linuxfoundation.org...nux-migration/

Curious they did not mention if it was RedHat etc...

^ Nice article. Nice screenshots:
https://www.linuxjournal.com/files/l...024/3024f2.jpg
https://www.linuxjournal.com/files/l...024/3024f4.jpg
So yeah, it isn't exactly a new thing.

Hopefully one of the many firsts for Linux in the realm of flight, robotics, information gathering, and the gathering of samples and such on other planets and outer space. Looking forward to future events in space for Linux.

This should be an important move on several accounts. Currently most NASA gear uses Wind River's proprietary VxWorks. Since Elon's SpaceX has proven both the reliability and most importantly the quick adaptability/configurability of Open Source Linux, NASA must at least test out Linux to see if the monetary and time savings is worth the switch where they must service their own software in return for /root privileges. It's exhilarating and a bit scary that it's first test is a helicopter on Mars. I'll have no fingernails or hair left if it takes a month to launch.

I hope more articles appear with details of how the embedded system was designed.

Looks like we can say "Linux is outta this world!"

...so I take it Windows 10 is out of the question?

NASA and the US military have spoken about windows before on videos over the years. They have said that it is good for office environments where word processing and spread sheets are done, but for anything mission critical like fire control or guidance systems, it isn't stable enough to use.

Plus there is the licensing requirements when using windows. You can't reverse engineer or change anything. So NASA probably can't make a stripped down version of windows that does only what they wish. You would probably be legally required to ask microsoft to do it for you, and then use it the way they say to.

With open source you can do/make whatever you need.

Most early usage of Linux, especially in SpaceX, vary some because they are or can be diverse task systems more like what we see on Desktops. The Mars Copter's system is far more an embedded system with limited and very specific abilities. I don't know for certain yet that it is literally Linux From Scratch but clearly it has very little resemblance to what's on our PCs other than some very basic, very specific kernel. I'm guessing the hardware module/drivers are all "built in", not loadable modules. I'm betting the entire system is less than a half dozen megabytes. I'm going out on a (perhaps sturdy) limb to bet the kernel is under 1 MB.

The Windows source code is available to governments, big corporate users, hardware vendors, etc.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/shar...e/default.aspx

I can just imagine the several million $ of NASA hardware running Windows 10 and then... it install updates and reboots...

A lot of this kind of "mission critical" bespoke kit, usually runs some kind of real time OS such as VxWorks, not Windows, Linux or 'BSD.

You may find this to be of interest (disclaimer - I have not read the whole thing):

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/...ttachment=true
So maybe the requirements are not so strict.