Sun Labs and NASA/JPL send Java to Mars

Sun Labs and NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) scientists are working together on a project to implement JPL's Mission Data System software architecture using the Real-Time Specification for Java development platform. MDS implemented in RTSJ is targeted for the Mars Smart Lander mission, launching on October 25, 2009.

Physical devices (vehicles, spacecraft, manufacturing equipment, etc.) are currently being designed with the assumption that software will play a much larger part of the device's control aspect. Traditional design of these devices has relied primarily on analog electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic control structures but various trends have caused current designs to depend more on software for control. Many organizations have begun, with the help of software community, to create software architectures for these next generation devices and are looking for the most advanced software development platforms capable of supporting the rigorous physical, temporal, and complexity demands necessary for device control.