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Product category: Embedded Software and Operating Systems
News Release from: QNX Software Systems | Subject: Neutrino
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 15 July 2005

RTOS helps keep
watch over shuttle exterior

The QNX Neutrino RTOS will power the Neptec laser camera system (LCS) for NASA's Return to Flight mission

Designed and built by Neptec, a developer of space vision systems, the LCS will play a key role in ensuring the safety of this mission, the first since the Columbia disaster in 2003. The mission was originally scheduled for takeoff on Wednesday 13th July from NASA's Kennedy Space centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

When it does eventually get under way, the crew of the space shuttle Discovery will use Neptec's LCS to inspect the exterior of the shuttle during the 12-day flight.

The LCS, which will be attached to a boom at the end of the shuttle's Canadarm, uses a scanning mechanism to generate three-dimensional maps of the shuttle's exterior surface in real time.

During the mission, NASA will use the generated images to identify even the smallest amount of damage to the outside of the spacecraft.

Neptec has also used QNX RTOS technology in earlier devices it developed for NASA, including the QNX-based advanced space vision system (ASVS), which helped guide the Canadarm in previous shuttle missions as well as on the International Space Station.

'The LCS is a critical element of NASA's Return to Flight mission and we have to be sure it is running on the most reliable operating system available', said Iain Christie, Vice President of Research and Development at Neptec.

'Selecting the QNX Neutrino RTOS was an easy decision because we already know that the system can handle the extreme conditions found in space and that it meets our demands for ultra-reliability'.

'We will continue to use QNX technology in all of our real-time embedded projects'.

'Our unmatched dependability has made QNX Neutrino the operating system of choice for applications where system failure is not an option - from the space shuttle to the operating room', said Dan Dodge, CEO, QNX Software Systems.

'We have been working with Neptec for more than a decade, developing fault-resilient OS technology for the company's camera systems, and we are thrilled to play a role in improving the safety of space exploration'.

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