The The European Space Agency announced Last week he announced a notable update to the MARSIS spacecraft, the transition from a Windows 98-based software system to a contemporary one. The rover flies in continuous orbit around Mars in search of water and has not received any software updates since its launch in June 2003.
The satellite is in orbit around Mars and uses radio waves to take “pictures” of the red planet. The spacecraft has been in good service for about 19 years, but according to the European Space Agency (ESA) it needs an upgrade. “MARSIS has become difficult to do for a number of reasons. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the vehicle has been running software for 20 years, based on Windows 98.”
With the update, the space probe should perform better; The European Space Agency removes unnecessary data that was previously required to store images in a complex manner. As a result, MARSIS can continue to collect data up to five times longer in each orbit around Mars before memory becomes full. In addition to a larger amount of information, it should also be possible to collect larger data files, which are then sent to Earth.
source:
ESA
