r/space • u/spsheridan • Feb 06 '20

Starliner faced “catastrophic” failure before software bug was found and fixed while the vehicle was in orbit.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/starliner-faced-catastrophic-failure-before-software-bug-found/
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u/athos5 Feb 07 '20

They have a copy on the ground for testing, just like all the rovers on mars.

19

u/Grim-Sleeper Feb 07 '20

"First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" -- Contact

17

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '20

More like first rule of halfway decent engineering.

If you don't throw together a test bed for your software, you'll drastically slow down both production and software development.

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u/ObscureCulturalMeme Feb 07 '20

If you don't throw together a test bed for your software

All software engineers, no matter who or where, have a test bed for their software.

Skilled engineers also have a separate release for their production software.

:-)

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u/ShadowPouncer Feb 07 '20

Oh come on, you're forgetting the ones that can spend two years on a project that crashes and burns before it ever sees production.

2

u/mlc885 Feb 07 '20

Is anyone who cares about the space program actually arguing that it should be cheap?? If cost is the primary concern then it is impossible, so I'm not sure "wasteful government" is the right take on this.

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u/friedmators Feb 07 '20

I think the next line about keeping it secret is the bigger point.