Ingenuity, NASA’s helicopter on Mars is flying again after a recent emergency landing.
In late July during flight #53, the LAND_NOW program in Ingenuity’s avionics directed the vehicle to land due to navigation discrepancies. It immediately landed. The latest news is that the helicopter seems to be ok with normal missions coming soon. (Ok, “more rigorous” missions.)
Trudy and I can bear witness to the utility of such software based on our recent travels.
As I wrote previously, on a fine Sunday morning in June as we were pulling our teardrop northward, our Volvo displayed a Pull over now diagnostic on the dashboard due to tire pressure discrepancies. We immediately pulled over. As a result, we and the car were ok with a several hour delay the only major consequence. (Ok, that and a new set of tires.)
It’s officially an interplanetary fact: Good software is good software.