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Express Logic Plays Key Role In Managing MRO Data From Red Planet
San Diego CA (SPX) Mar 20, 2007 Express Logic announced that its ThreadX RTOS has been used by NASA in its ongoing Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. The MRO mission is to map the surface of Mars with high-resolution and infrared imaging sensors so scientists can gain a better understanding of the Red Planet, including its past or present ability to support any form of life. ThreadX was the RTOS selected to manage the cameras responsible for the unprecedented quality of image currently being collected. Image collection is all part of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) developed by Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp., the same design team responsible for NASA's highly successful Deep Impact mission, which also used ThreadX. HiRISE provides images of the surface of Mars with much finer resolution and a higher level of contrast than ever before. Managed by the ThreadX RTOS, HiRISE application software controls the acquisition of images across a six-kilometer swath of 20,000 pixels at a time while the spacecraft sweeps over the surface of Mars. While traveling at a speed of 3,200 meters per second, image data is continuously collected using a Time Delay and Integration (TDI) method that matches ground velocity and maintains alignment with the surface of Mars. HiRISE software adds header information to the data, ensuring that image swaths can be reassembled and sends the data to the image storage system and subsequently back to Earth. "The characteristics of ThreadX suited the demanding resource-constrained environment we needed," notes Steve Tarr, head of the HiRISE team at Ball Aerospace. Express Logic's ThreadX RTOS manages all software aspects of image collection in the HiRISE system. HiRISE is integrated into an overall system that coordinates the spacecraft operation with image collection. For instance, HiRISE image acquisition is coordinated with a separate application that controls spacecraft thrusters. The thrusters position and orient the spacecraft so that the camera is pointing at the area that is to be photographed. As well as delivering a very high resolution image of the Mars surface, ThreadX manages application software that controls a CTX imager that takes a wider angle view of the same region and a CRISM multispectral imager that obtains near-infrared spectral images that helps identify Mars' surface composition. "Participating in these two highly successful NASA missions is something we're very proud of," commented William E. Lamie, president of Express Logic. "Such missions as Deep Impact and MRO require flawless performance or the entire mission is jeapordized. We're proud that ThreadX has met the challenges of both missions, enabling NASA scientists to learn more about the universe we live in." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Express Logic Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Mars Express Radar Gauges Water Quantity Around Martian South Pole
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 16, 2007The amount of water trapped in frozen layers over Mars' south polar region is equivalent to a liquid layer about 11 metres deep covering the planet. This new estimate comes from mapping the thickness of the dusty ice by the Mars Express radar instrument that has made more than 300 virtual slices through layered deposits covering the pole. The radar sees through icy layers to the lower boundary, which in places is as deep as 3.7 kilometres below the surface. |
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