Giant Slayer: Will You Let Software be David to Your Goliath System?

Abstract

Modern aerospace systems are marvels of engineering. Their amazing achievements are due in large part to software, yet relatively few project personnel, especially project management staff, understand or appreciate the significance of it. The lack of understanding and attention to software often dooms large aerospace projects to significant delay if not outright failure. As a motivation, several software-related aerospace incidents, from benign to calamitous, are recounted here to demonstrate the extent of the problem. Frequently repeated oversights witnessed on many large aerospace projects are then reviewed, with an eye toward what can (and should) be done to avoid the pitfalls. The intent is to empower the reader with information and ideas to prevent software from slaying the giant systems that it is built to support. Nomenclature t = time

Fatal Software Failures in Spaceflight

“…Only few project personnel, especially in management, understand its significance [16]. Some may see it as being little more than a small piece in a subsystem or a physicist's programming exercise: "Spaceflight technology is historically and also traditionally located in the area of mechanical engineering.…”

“…More and more critical functions are entrusted to software, the spacecraft's "brain" [20]. Unsurprisingly, this means that sometimes software dooms large missions, causing significant delays or outright failures [16]. A single glitch can destroy equipment worth hundreds of millions of euros.…”