Mars Probe gets Windows 98 Update, after 19 years

[Tom.G]

The agency said the upgrade will enable the spacecraft to view Mars and its moon Phobos with better levels of detail.

“Previously, to study the most important features on Mars, and to study its moon Phobos at all, we relied on a complex technique that stored a lot of high-resolution data and filled up the instrument’s on-board memory very quickly,” said Andrea Cicchetti, the MARSIS deputy principal investigator and operation manager at INAF.

He added: “By discarding data that we don’t need, the new software allows us to switch MARSIS on for five times as long and explore a much larger area with each pass.”

https://www.techradar.com/news/mars...98-receives-software-update-after-two-decades

 

[Ibix]

I couldn't quite work out what they were doing with the update. It implied they were freeing up space for data, which sounds like the opposite of what Windows updates usually do. Presumably they've chopped out unnecessary stuff...? I hope they left Minesweeper so the probe has something to do while it's uploading data.

 

[paige turner]

I hope they left Minesweeper so the probe has something to do while it's uploading data

it's watching porn

.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Could have been worse.

 

[OCR]

it's watching porn

Well, that should increase the extension of its probe function a bit longer. . . .

.

 

[collinsmark]

This has made headlines in pop-sci articles lately. But (without researching it too much), I'm pretty sure the orbiter was not running Windows 98.

Rather the software running the probe was originally developed years ago using a Windows 98 based environment.

I think the confusion comes from ESA press release, where a quote may have been misinterpreted/taken out of context. "... MARSIS software was originally designed over 20 years ago, using a development environment based on Microsoft Windows 98!”
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Suppor...upgrade_for_19-year-old_martian_water-spotter

That's not quite the same thing as the orbiter actually running Windows 98.

 

[Ibix]

That's not quite the same thing as the orbiter actually running Windows 98.

And makes a lot more sense!