Python and spacecraft onboard or ground control scripting

[Cameron Laird]

In article <LFGz2JAYZxt8EwR6 at jessikat.demon.co.uk>,
Robin Becker  <robin at jessikat.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>...
>well there's certainly been some efforts with Tcl eg
>
>s. "Tcl and Concurrent Object-Oriented Flight Software: Tcl on Mars",
>by David E. Smyth, Mars Pathfinder Flight Software Team, Jet
>Propulsion Laboratory.
>
>        Describes the use of Tcl on the "Mars Pathfinder" project, in
>        which Tcl (with several extensions) is used in several ways:
>        as the language for inter-object messages within the
>        object-oriented flight software; as the implementation
>        language for the monitor and control environment; and as the
>        initial implementation language for some of the flight
>        software itself.
>
>but I'm not sure that Tcl actually went to Mars.
>-- 
>Robin Becker

Folklore has it that Tcl *did* travel to Mars, and its
interpretive nature was crucial in responding to some
mission contingency; the control team needed to upload
new code during flight.  We ought to document this ...

While I understand the observations that Python, Tcl, 
and so on surely aren't safe enough for medical devices,
nuclear plants, air traffic control, military devices,
and so on, I have reasonably certain knowledge of instances
of each of these.
-- 

Cameron Laird <Cameron at Lairds.com>
Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net
Personal:  http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/home.html