Wind River Powers NASA’s Space Exploration — Mars Rovers Lands Safely, Stardust Spacecraft Completes its Journey to the Comet
Wind River Systems, Inc., the worldwide market
leader in embedded software and services, today announced that the
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit,
powered by Wind River technology, successfully landed on Mars at
approximately 8:35 p.m. PT, January 3, 2004. Spirit is one of two twin
robot geologists running on Wind River’s industry leading real-time
operating system (RTOS), VxWorks. The second twin, Opportunity, is
scheduled to land on Mars on January 24, 2004. Once on Mars, Spirit
will leverage Wind River’s reliable technology to perform complex,
mission-critical tasks, such as trajectory, descent and ground
operations control, data collection and Mars-to-Earth communication
relay.
In addition to powering the Mars Rovers, Wind River’s technology
also operates within NASA JPL’s Stardust spacecraft. Stardust is the
first United States space mission dedicated solely to the exploration
of a comet, named Wild 2, and the first robotic mission designed to
return extraterrestrial material from outside the orbit of the Moon.
Today, Stardust will complete its four-year journey from Earth,
arriving within 100 kilometers of the speeding nucleus of Wild 2 to
collect dust samples from the comet’s tail in order to help answer
fundamental questions regarding the origins of the solar system. Wind
River’s VxWorks® real-time operating system (RTOS) is responsible
for Stardust’s flight trajectory and path, the collection of
interstellar dust and cometary material, the journey back to Earth,
and the safe landing of the return capsule.
“Successful missions don’t just happen; they are the result of the
hard work, dedication and technology of many different organizations,”
said Jerry Fiddler, co-founder for Wind River.
“For more than two decades, Wind River has had the honor to work
with the inspirational people of NASA’s JPL and we are continuously
impressed by their space exploration projects such as the Mars
Exploration Rovers and Stardust,” said Jerry Fiddler of Wind River
Systems. “As the founder of Wind River, I am personally proud that our
reliable, secure real-time operating system has served as a key
foundational technology for many aerospace organizations that shape
the future of space exploration.”
Since its inception in 1981, Wind River has been a trusted advisor
in the development of aerospace and defense products. The company’s
reliable technology has successfully powered countless products in the
reaches of our universe, including NASA’s space “lifeboat,” NASA’s
Deep Space One satellite, and the European Space Agency’s PROBA
satellite, among others.
The Mars Exploration Rovers and the Stardust missions are part of
the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA’s lead center for robotic
exploration of the solar system, which is managed by the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif.
To learn more about Mars Exploration Rovers, go to
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html. To learn more about
Stardust, go to http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/. To learn more about
Wind River’s work in Aerospace and Defense, go to
http://www.windriver.com/markets/aerospace/.
About Wind River
Wind River is the worldwide leader in embedded software and
services. It provides market-specific embedded platforms that
integrate real-time operating systems, development tools and
technologies. Wind River’s products and professional services are used
in multiple markets including aerospace and defense, automotive,
digital consumer, industrial, and network infrastructure. Wind River
provides high-integrity technology and expertise that enables its
customers to create superior products more efficiently. Companies from
around the world turn to Wind River to create the most reliable
products and to accelerate their time to market.
Founded in 1981, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, Calif.,
with operations worldwide. To learn more, visit Wind River at
http://www.windriver.com or call Wind River at 800-872-4977.
Wind River Systems and the Wind River Systems logo are trademarks
of Wind River Systems, Inc., and VxWorks is a registered trademark of
Wind River Systems, Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks,
registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.
