Xerox software used by NASA to keep Mars explorations on track

Computerworld - As the two NASA rovers have explored Mars since their separate landings in January, scientific researchers around the world have been able to collaborate and plan the ongoing missions for the rovers with software from Xerox Corp.
The researchers are using Xerox DocuShare Enterprise Content Management software to share information around the globe -- and around the clock -- as the rover missions continue, according to a statement from Xerox. The Web-based application allows NASA to download photographs and other data from the rovers so researchers can contribute their ideas and work with each other on the next exploratory steps to take, said Vernon Piette, an electronic library service engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The JPL is the headquarters for the Mars missions.
Most of the scientific data from the two rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, is beamed by radio waves directly to the scientific computers at the JPL and stored in proprietary formats for use by NASA scientists and mission experts.
The data collected each Martian day, which has been dubbed a "sol" by NASA, is then analyzed and used to plan the next day's work. The collaboration by researchers around the world is done through DocuShare, which allows notes to be added to original documents so they can be viewed and shared.
David Smith, vice president and general manager of Xerox's DocuShare business unit, said the software was chosen by the JPL five years ago because it's easy to use by researchers and scientists who want to collaborate on missions without extensive training. The software was used during the development phase of the Mars Exploration mission for daily storing and exchange of a variety of planning documents.
So far, the data stored in DocuShare includes photos and data about surface temperatures, project summaries, sensor readings and even the angles of the rovers' robotic arms.
Each of the rovers runs under Wind River Systems Inc.'s VxWorks operating system, which is embedded in a specially prepared, radiation-hardened 20-MHz PowerPC CPU installed on each of the rovers, along with 128MB of RAM. The hardware was cutting edge back when it was chosen in the mid-1990s, but then it had to be treated to ensure its reliability in the radiation of deep space -- a process that takes five to 10 years.
The DocuShare system runs on a central Solaris server and supports users across all platforms, including Windows and Linux.
In addition to the team supporting the Mars Exploration Rover project, more than 5,000 other people areusing DocuShare for different active projects at NASA JPL. In total, the Xerox DocuShare content and document management system houses 700GB of data and manages more than 300,000 files for the space program, according to Xerox.