Software Engineering

Software Engineering

Embedded systems for directing onboard operations

Flight software is the “intelligence” that efficiently directs onboard operations, orchestrates the functionality of flight hardware to perform specific tasks, and protects against anomalies during planetary and Earth-orbiting missions. LASP’s Flight Software Group has a proven record of successfully developing custom software solutions for unique and diverse applications.

Our engineers have extensive experience with software architectures ranging from small to complex systems, both with and without a real-time operating system. LASP also develops the GSE software systems necessary to develop, test, and integrate science instruments and spacecraft systems. Our software is tested extensively at the component, subsystem, and integrated system levels. Test types include functional and performance, stress, and long duration to ensure the robustness of our flight software systems.

LASP follows a design philosophy known as embedded systems. The art of this design seeks the right balance between allocation of functionality to digital-logic and to software code. Flight software provides adaptability, configurability, reliability, and ease-of-maintenance over hardware-only solutions.

LASP’s flight software capabilities include:

  • Mechanisms and features, such as filter wheels, scan motors, and instrument doors and shutters
  • Development, including processes compliant with ISO 9001 and NASA 7150.2(a)
  • Science instruments, ranging from ultraviolet spectrometers and dust counters to electrical substitution radiometers
  • Processors
  • Communications interfaces, including SpaceWire