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How does the Galileo spacecrafts software work? What language was the software written in?

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How does the Galileo spacecrafts software work? What language was the software written in?

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Before we start to discuss software, we need to know a little about the hardware, since there can be up to 18 microcomputers running on Galileo at any given time. First off, although all eleven science instruments use microprocessors, only eight of the instruments are actually reprogrammable in flight (some technical details are available; additional information on the science instruments can be found in back issues of the Galileo Messenger). Only two of the major engineering subsystems–the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) and Command and Data Subsystem (CDS)–are programmable in flight. These two use very different computer architectures. Each of the AACS’s attitude functions requires a tremendous amount of mathematical computation, all of which is the job of the AACS software. Just like the word processor or spreadsheet on a home computer system gets revised into newer, sometimes better versions, the AACS software has evolved from what was originally launched with

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