Linux at NASA With their long history of mainframe-based computing, NASA scientists were quick to spot the benefits of Linux. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, for example, uses Linux with its airborne Scanning Radar Altimeter to study hurricanes. NASA's Beowulf-class clustered computing project has also made use of Linux for several years. When you are two billion miles from earth, you can't just pop out to a hardware store to get a spare part. They have recently integrated Linux into the business of building better spacecraft.
Thermal engineers play a key role in the design of space hardware.
It allows thermal engineers to create a thermal model of the hardware in a simulated space environment. They can then achieve a better understanding of how well the system will actually work when it is out in space. The group also installed Linux TSS on computers at two subcontractor facilities. The Right Place at the Right Time Building a better spacecraft is fruitless, however, if it never arrives at its intended destination. While some people have trouble navigating their way across town, the scientists at JPL have to plot a trajectory that will allow a space probe to intercept a planet that is billions of miles away and traveling at 15,000 miles an hour.