Can Anyone Program Artificial Satellites or Do You Need Specific Skills?

[LovePhysics]

I have a question regarding programming of artificial satellites if someone would be nice to answer. :)

Well I'm assuming that satellites need to be programmed to function (according to the clients' wishes). I have a few questions regarding this:

1. In what kind of programming languages are satellite systems generally written in?
2. Does one need knowledge about astrodynamics to program satellites and why?
3. Is there anything else one would need to know (any science field) next to the programming language itself?

 

[anorlunda]

Many languages are used.

In my experience, science and engineering skills are the primary qualification. We hire engineers and let them do their own programming. We don't hire programmers and let them do their own engineering.